A Rewritten Life
by Yih
Summary: Discontinued, new vs. is A LIFE, REWRITTEN. A week after being sent to the Dursley's, Harry is left at an orphanage. Albus is left no choice but to fetch the child and raise him at Hogwarts under the Fidelius Charm...
1. The Orphan

**A Rewritten Life  
**by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

**Note:** This is for all the _Chimera_ reviewers. I'm sorry I pulled it off the web, but I hope you enjoy this fanfic anyway. Thanks for all your support, it means a lot.

Chapter One  
_The Orphan_

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed up his spectacles. He grimaced as he watched the mail start sorting themselves into piles from _urgent _to _junk_. It was a special spell he had created to help him with the vast quantities of post he'd gotten since the demise of Voldemort. The spell saved him a bit of time; unfortunately, it still didn't get the letters read or answered.

It had only been a week, he thought. It wasn't like this was going to stop any time soon. Albus sighed and picked up another parchment, untying the string, and spreading it open. The letterhead was unmistakably that of the Ministry of Magic. Albus didn't have to read it to know what they wanted. No doubt it was another formal request to transfer the custody of Harry James Potter to them.

They simply didn't understand the tenuous situation Harry was in. There were still Death Eaters out there; dark wizards and witches who would only be too happy to kill the young Savior of the Wizarding World. Albus forced his hand to relax. If the Killing Curse failed on Harry for some unknown reason, Albus was certain a prolong Cruciatus Curse would work. He took a deep breath and shoved the scroll aside.

Albus was about to pick up another one when the alert ball flew from its position next to Fawkes' perch straight at him. Albus caught it and peered deeply into the picture it had to show him. He was a bit confused as to why the ball had activated when he saw Petunia carrying a quiet baby with bright green eyes in the back of a car. A moment later Albus understood, once she got out and headed up the steps of… an orphanage.

Now was really not the time for further complications, but of course, there it was—staring him in the face. Albus sighed and got up from his desk to floo Minerva. She whirled around with narrowed eyes. "What do you want?" she asked, gesturing to the pile of parchments she had on her desk. "I'm in the process of grading some second year exams."

"I have something that needs to be discussed," Albus said.

"Can it not wait until dinner?" Minerva inquired with thinly veiled irritation. "There are twenty exams I still have yet to do."

"It's about Harry Potter."

Minerva's eyes widened. "What about him?"

"Will you floo to my office?"

She nodded curtly. "I'll be there in a moment."

True to her word, she arrived brushing the ashes off her robes. Minerva straightened up and scowled at the fireplace before marching over and taking a seat across from him. She looked at him without wavering and stated bluntly, "Tell me what is the matter."

Albus pushed the watcher orb toward her and she cupped it with her hands, peering in much as he had. He was fairly certain he knew what she was looking at—a very young Harry Potter sleeping on a sterile white cot. It wasn't the sort of bed a baby should be sleeping in. No railing, no sides to catch the boy if he were to roll over.

"Those Muggles," Minerva muttered, "didn't even bother to get him a proper bed."

"It's more than that," Albus remarked.

Minerva lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. "I told you those were the worse sort of Muggles, but do you ever listen to me? No. It's too bad we need the blood sacrifice protection."

"Unfortunately," he said with a grave voice, "the protection is invalid if his Aunt or cousin isn't around him."

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying?"

"His Aunt has left him at an orphanage."

"What!"

Albus reached for the glowing ball and set it aside. "Yes. I saw it," he stated. "Harry is now at a children's shelter somewhere in London."

"And?" Minerva snapped demandingly. "What are we going to do?"

"Harry needs the blood protection."

"You cannot mean to send him back to those Muggles!" Minerva exclaimed. "Look at what they've done. They've sent him to an orphanage. Why, that's exactly what happened to Tom Riddle! And you know how he turned out…"

"I didn't say Harry must have the blood protection."

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying then?"

"There is the Fidelius Charm."

"There is that," she murmured with a faint smile. "All we need is a Keeper."

"It would be best if I was," Albus murmured, peering wearily over his glasses. "But I thought you might like to pick Harry up."

* * *

The orphanage was located in a very shabby area of London. It was somewhat better than Knockturn Alley, but not by much. Minerva took a large step over something that looked like vomit near the steps up to the main entrance. She surveyed it with slight dismay. The doors were in desperate need of some paint, and the building looked like it was close to falling apart with well-defined cracks in the bricks.

She walked up the treads and entered into the dimly lit hallway. She followed the sound of people talking, of children whining, and of babies crying. Her eyes clouded over with a hint of tears when she caught sight of a baby on a cot much like she seen in the orb, rolling around and screaming. It wasn't just in search of attention; there was pain on his—her face.

"Miss?" Minerva jerked her head to look eye-to-eye at a much younger woman in shabby clothes with hair messily tied back. "Can I help you with something?"

"I…" Minerva began, her voice cracking a bit, "I wish to adopt a baby."

"Oh!" the younger woman exclaimed. "Oh, that's wonderful. Have you been here before?"

Minerva shook her head.

"Hmm… we'll have to file paperwork of course."

Minerva nodded and took out from her satchel a stack of papers. Albus had assured her that these were all the documents that she would need to adopt a baby out of a Muggle orphanage. She hoped he was right. There were times when she wasn't quite sure if Albus was… quite there anymore. The war with Voldemort had taken a great toll on him.

"The initial paperwork," the young woman amended. "It might take months for this to go through, or only weeks—depends how your references check out. But why don't we go into the nursery and you can look at the children. Do you know if you want a girl or boy? How young?"

"A young boy about one," Minerva said carefully, her hand drifting into her robe and fingering her wand. Albus somehow had forgotten to tell her what a lengthy process a Muggle adoption was. "Is there anyone like that here?"

The young woman seemed to be thinking hard before a bright smile came onto her face. "I know just the boy!" she cried. "He came in yesterday, actually. A very beautiful child, very sweet."

Minerva felt her heart beat a tad faster. It had to be Harry. How many other children came in a day to an orphanage? Especially fitting her description? She didn't know, but she doubted it was that many.

"He has the greenest eyes you'll ever see," the young woman rambled on. "Unlike the other babies, he doesn't really cry. He just looks at you with those big eyes of him, but I think he's scared. He's just trying to be brave. He cried last night and he wouldn't stop. Poor boy."

Minerva nodded and swallowed her choked emotions. "It sounds like he needs a good home."

The young woman nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, he certainly does. If you adopt him, he'll be quite lucky. His stay will be one of the shortest ever in the orphanage. I hope there's nothing wrong with your paperwork."

Minerva smiled, curling her fingers around her wand. "I'm sure nothing will be wrong."

* * *

She cradled the sleeping baby close to her heart, shielding him from the autumn chill in the thick warmth of her robes. A useful Glamour Charm had made her appear to be younger and dressed in proper Muggle attire. A quick memory charm along with the paperwork had made the young woman believe Minerva had already been through the initial screening and had brought the final papers to claim Harry Potter.

It had taken an hour too long, Minerva thought, but Harry was now in her arms and he would be at Hogwarts soon. She wandered into a back alley and looked cautiously around to make sure no one was around. When she was certain, she pulled the portkey out of her pocket and activated it.

The sinking feeling in her belly confirmed she was being whisked back to Hogwarts.

* * *

"Hello Harry," Albus said like he was speaking to an adult. The bright-eyed baby looked at him and blinked. "I'm going to be performing a spell on you to keep you safe."

Minerva cradled Harry closer to her. "You should get the spell over with. It's been a long day for him and me, _and_ I still have exams to grade."

Albus flicked his wand over Harry, pronouncing the incantation that would protect the child from all who would seek to harm him. It was not a terribly difficult spell, not for one of his power, but Albus still needed to focus on who he was protecting. Looking into Harry's green eyes, Albus found it easy to wish to protect this child from harm. As long as he told no one where to find Harry, the young child would remain hidden.

"Oh dear," Minerva remarked after the spell had settled onto Harry, "we hadn't thought of who will care for Harry or even what to do with him."

Albus sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I will watch him for tonight while you grade your exams."

"But what of the other days?" she inquired. "We can't watch the baby continuously. We have responsibilities… if only it weren't the middle of the school term."

"We will need a caretaker."

"But the Fidelius Charm," Minerva spoke, "it only works if Harry's whereabouts remain a secret. If we hire an outside caretaker, then we will have to risk exposing the secret to someone—"

"A matter of trust," he murmured.

"Yes."

"What of a house elf?"

Minerva's eyes widened. "You've been thinking."

"Yes," Albus confirmed. "You know of how loyal they are."

"And fiercely protective of their charges," she whispered.

"It would only be for the day," he stated. "At nights, we could share the responsibility."

Minerva inclined her face. "That we could."

"Does this plan garner your approval?" he inquired, raising his eyes to her.

"You know it does."

Albus smiled only a little.

* * *

Albus touched Harry's pert little nose and smiled when Harry giggled. The baby—the young toddler, actually—was well-adjusted. He didn't seem too startled by all that was happening to him. Albus held up a finger and Harry's hand grabbed it.

"Have you started talking yet?" Albus murmured. "You're over a year, some children are quite precocious. Have you learned to walk? I do think I remember Lily telling me you were crawling at six months or so. She said you were an active baby, but very quick to smile."

Harry stared at him with calm green eyes. "She said you were a good baby," Albus continued. "She loved you very much, do you know that?"

Albus was certain that Harry understood some of what he was saying, if not all of it. Harry made a sweet cooing sound, but his eyes were quite serious and intent—never wavering in their gaze. "I don't know why your Aunt gave you to the Children's Shelter," he remarked. "From all accounts, she appears to adore children, especially her child. But it seems Minerva was right. They are not the very best of Muggles.

"But you won't think badly of them, will you?" Albus inquired, resting his back against his cushioned chair. "Not all Muggles are like that. Some can be quite good in many ways. Your mother always spoke fondly of her parents, your grandparents. I'm sure if they were still alive; they gladly would have welcomed you into their house.

"Maybe it was your Uncle, who was not keen to have you in the house. I felt certain your Aunt would want you. Lily didn't often speak of her sister, but she did seem to love her. But sometimes things don't turn out the way you expect." Albus peered at the droopy-eyed baby. "After all, no one would have thought a baby would bring down the darkest wizard since Grindelwald."

Harry blinked and then yawned softly. Albus glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was about 9:00. Not very late, but for a baby it was quite a reasonable hour to go to sleep considering how much Harry had been through already. Albus stroked Harry's soft cheek. "By all the power I have, I promise you will be safe here."

* * *

Minerva stared dubiously at the spoon in Albus' hand as well as the plate of food in front of him. "Are you sure that Harry can eat solid foods?"

Albus scooped up some of the mashed pumpkin. "There's only one way to be certain," he answered and placed the spoon next to Harry's mouth. "Aaah."

"Aaaa?" Harry mimicked, looking quite confused but closing his mouth over the pumpkin filled spoon. "Mrrmmm." Harry opened his mouth again and then closed it, but some of the pumpkin dripped out.

Albus cleaned Harry's chin dutifully and smiled when Harry opened his mouth again and none of the orange pumpkin was seen. "I would say an emphatic yes to your question."

Minerva snorted. "I suppose I will feed Harry during lunch and you can attend to your Headmaster's duties, but what are we to do about dinner tonight? You cannot miss it and as Head of House, I cannot either."

"Remember the house elf?"

She nodded stiffly. "But which house elf?"

"I think Yenty will be a good choice," Albus remarked. "And of course, Fawkes will watch over Harry."

"Yenty," Minvera murmured. "Yes, I suppose she's the best, very loyal to Hogwarts and very… sweet."

"Kind too," he responded. "Fawkes will alert us if anything goes wrong and we are needed." He patted her arm. "Don't worry." He raised another spoonful of pumpkin mash to Harry's mouth. "Aaaah."

Harry dutifully opened his mouth and closed it over the sweet mash.

"Good boy," Albus said and took a bite of his own porridge. "You have good taste. I quite enjoyed this pumpkin mash when I was younger. My mum said I devoured it. Yes, yes, open wide. Aaaah!"

* * *

"Yenty understands Headmaster," the small, large eyed house elf said while nodding. "Yenty feed Master Harry and put him to sleep. Yenty will do this."

Albus handed Harry to Yenty and she cradled the baby close to her. Harry looked much bigger when Yenty was holding him, Albus mused. "If anything happens and you need my assistance, Fawkes will send your message to me. All right?"

"Yenty will," she promised. "Yenty take good care of Master Harry while Headmaster eats."

Smiling Albus said a few words to Fawkes and his phoenix inclined his head. Albus swept out of his office in a rush. He was a bit late and dinner didn't start until he arrived. With Harry, life was much busier, but he didn't mind the extra responsibility. It was the least he could do for Harry, considering how much he has already lost at such a young age.

Albus entered into the Great Hall and took his seat at the head of the table, between Minerva and Filius. He glanced at the empty table and snapped his fingers. Immediately plates of food appeared in front of each table.

The eyes of most of the students were on him. He nodded and raised his goblet up. Some grinned; some merely started grabbing at the food right away. But in most, he saw the reason why he was here. Children were the future and for the difficult times ahead, they deserved to be happy while they could.

* * *

Harry spewed the green mush out of his mouth and his eyes were most definitely defiant. Albus suppressed a smile when Minerva started clucking her tongue. "Now Harry," she said, holding the spoon up with the green colored food, "this is broccoli and it's quite good for you. Aaaah!"

Harry shook his head and refused to open his mouth.

"Minerva," Albus said, "I think it'd be best to go back to the pumpkin or banana or even carrots. I don't think Harry likes the broccoli."

She glared at him and set the spoon down. "Harry needs a balanced diet."

"Carrots are vegetables."

"_Greens!_"

Albus smiled and snapped his fingers. Yenty popped in with a tray of three very small helpings of pumpkin, bananas, and carrots. "If Harry likes to eat this, I don't see why we can't let him. It's not as if this is bad for him."

Minerva huffed and banished the broccoli with a wave of her wand. "If you keep giving into his sweet tooth, then we won't ever teach him how to eat properly."

"Surely, pumpkin, bananas, and carrots aren't a bad diet," he responded. "I eat them all the time."

Minerva rolled her eyes. "His diet needs to diversify."

"We could add applesauce."

"And we need to cap the sweets."

Albus sighed. "Potatoes?"

She looked like she was going to say no, but stopped. "That might be all right."

"Yenty?"

The house elf scurried over to his side and look up with her big eyes. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"Would you get some mashed potatoes for Harry?"

"Yenty will," she said and vanished.

* * *

A muffled scream rang through the air. Minerva jerked from sleep and quickly got out of bed. She ran to the room where she kept Harry when it was her night to care for him. She took the boy into her arms and hushed him with sweet words. "It's all right, Harry. It's just a nightmare. Everything's fine."

Harry opened up his eyes and peered solemnly at her. It was eerie at how old he seemed, like he had seen so much in so little time. But she supposed he had. After all, he had been in the same room as his mother. Minerva wondered if that was what he was dreaming of. If so, she winced, he had a good reason to be screaming at night.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word," Minerva sang in her coarse voice, "Mama's going to buy you a wizard's broom. And if that wizard's broom don't fly, Mama's going to buy you a proper wand…"

Harry yawned at the end of the song and Minerva tucked him back into his trundle bed. She brushed away some of his dark hair from his face. "Did you know that your father was my very best student? His Animagus abilities were unparalleled, exceeding even your—"

Harry stirred a little and blinked his weary eyes at her. She smiled and bent down to press a kiss on his forehead. "Sleep child, sleep."

**TBC**

Author's Note: Review please and yes, Remus will make an appearance soon. I hope this is original, if it's not—I didn't intend to steal anyone else's idea. Thanks for reading.


	2. Birthday Boy

**A Rewritten Life  
**by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

Chapter Two  
_Birthday Boy_

Harry held up his toy wand and pointed it at an object and said something that was incomprehensible to Albus. The object, of course, didn't move, but Harry giggled with excitement anyway. Albus wondered if he was spoiling the boy too much. Minerva didn't think so, but she was biased toward the boy. Albus frowned for a moment when he thought about young Severus. He certainly would think he was overindulging the boy. But then Severus was far too hard on his students. Minerva was strict, but even she didn't approve the way Severus handled those who weren't members of his House.

_Blatant favoritism_, she called it.

And yet, Severus did have a fine rebuttal. If he didn't favor his Slytherins, who would?

Albus sighed and his eyes widened when Harry toddled over to him and held up his wand. "Plaay?"

"What would you like?" he asked, taking his wand out and aiming it at a few of Harry's little toy figurines. "Would you like me to make the dragon fly? Hmm? Maybe make the unicorn run?"

"Fly!" Harry cried. "Fly! Fly!"

Albus smiled and waved his wand in the neat flick of his wrist like Filius was always teaching the first years. "_Wingardium leviosa." _

* * *

At night when Albus had to go through paperwork, Yenty watched Harry. The house elf had proven to be the ideal caretaker for young Harry. She was always patient with him when he got frustrated and very loving. It was clear that Harry adored Yenty and it was equally obvious that Yenty felt the same way. 

Albus took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. He wasn't getting much work done. His thoughts were drifting to Harry as they tended to whenever Harry wasn't around. Albus shook his head. He had never considered him much of a family man, though he did like children. But he liked _older_ children, not babies. Harry certainly hadn't reinforced that opinion.

It was such a pity Harry was growing up so quickly. His two year old birthday was just around the corner, much as the end of term was fast approaching. But soon the children would be gone and Harry would be able to go onto the grounds and play in the sunshine more than he could.

Despite the fact Harry was under the Fidelius Charm and it was foolproof, it would be a little strange for a house elf to be standing in the fields doing nothing with a child that couldn't be seen. Albus had tried to get her to take the invisibility cloak so that she could watch Harry, but she refused as that would be considered giving her clothing and she didn't want to be sent away from her Harry!

Minerva didn't much like being hidden under the cloak, and her Animagus form gave her a good excuse to be romping outside. The only problem was there simply wasn't much time. They traded off during the weekends, taking Harry outside, but it wasn't often enough. Harry should be able to go out everyday and soon he would… when the students left.

Never had a term gone by slower, Albus thought, sinking back into his chair and closing his eyes. He would take a quick nap and then wake up and finish the rest of the reading, writing, and reporting.

* * *

Minerva flicked her ears toward the giggling Harry, who was trying to chase her around the room. She didn't have to run very fast. Harry was fairly good with his balance, but he wasn't a robust boy. It had taken him a while to learn to walk. Minerva crouched down when Harry came close as if she was undecided which way she should go. She thought it was about time they stopped. Harry was looking a bit worn out. 

Harry grinned when he touched her. She meowed and Harry sat down, pulling her onto his lap. He started stroking her belly just where she liked it. Minerva closed her eyes and purred deeply. Harry was very good at knowing where to pet her, almost as good as Albus.

"Ah, Minerva," Albus remarked. "There you are."

Minerva's eyes snapped open and she saw the Headmaster walk into the room. She tensed when she saw he wasn't alone. Trailing behind him was Severus Snape. She wrinkled her nose, but knew he couldn't see Harry. Unless Albus _allowed_ someone to see Harry, no one could.

It was a rather useful spell, though a bit strange being placed on a person. Minerva couldn't really remember when it had been used directly for someone. Usually it was used to hide a place. She was fairly certain that it was only because Albus had cast the spell was the reason it'd worked on Harry at all.

Minerva jumped from Harry's lap when she saw Severus take a step too close to them. Harry might be impossible to see, but she somehow doubted that made him insubstantial. She yowled and stared at Harry, lifting up a paw. Harry grinned and obediently got up.

Harry laughed sweetly and Minerva quickly meowed to cover it up. She looked up at Severus and saw a distinct frown on his face. Minerva knew she should have gone outside to play with Harry, but it was just so muddy outside. She turned around and started trotting out, feeling Harry close behind.

She was just slipping out when she heard Severus snap, "Are you certain you didn't hear something, Albus?"

* * *

"I suppose this proves the limitations of the Fidelius Charm on a person," Albus remarked. "It will hide a person from sight, but it won't remove noise or… physical presence. Severus said he felt something brush against him, but of course he didn't see anything and I assured him that no one could have gotten past my wards that I won't know about." 

Minerva's eyes shifted toward Harry, who was happily playing with Yenty. She didn't quite get what they were doing, but both of them were jumping about and smiling. They generally seemed to be having a good time.

"At least we know the restrictions," Minerva remarked. "It would hardly be good to test at a bad time. Severus is sharper than most."

Albus nodded and took out a lemon drop, popping it into his mouth. "He had to be. It's unfortunate that Severus has had to grow up quickly."

"Most did though," she said. "James, Lily, Remus, Peter…"

"Sirius," Albus finished. "I daresay he's had to do the most."

Minerva grimaced. "Who would have thought Sirius would betray James and Lily? I realize he was never that fond of Lily, but he loved James more than anyone in the world. I can't believe he would hurt them."

"Stranger things have happened," Albus murmured, gazing meaningfully at Harry. "Who would have thought this young child would be the Savior of us all?"

"True," she replied. "He's already done so much."

"And everyone knows his name," Albus said in an almost resigned voice. "He will be revered when he joins the Wizarding World. People will flock to him and pressure him to do great things for he has already done so. They will expect more. They always do."

Minerva glanced at Albus with understanding eyes. "You have more than fulfilled them."

"Have I?" Albus inquired. "I could not protect Harry or his parents."

"But you are protecting him now."

He smiled a little. "It seems I am."

* * *

"Alby!" Harry exclaimed, jumping onto the bed and pulling the covers off of him. "Alby!" 

Albus cracked his eyes open and smiled at Harry. The toddler was so enthusiastic, so excited. He was absolutely sure that Harry had gotten almost no sleep the night before. Minerva had told him that she shouldn't have told Harry when his birthday was. But it wasn't like he expected Harry to remember when he'd told him a week ago. While some things still eluded Harry, he understood the workings of the world remarkably well for a two year old.

"Happy birthday and good morning, Harry."

"Morn, Alby!" Harry exclaimed and grabbed his hand, tugging it. "Go out," he said and pointed to the door. "Go?"

Harry's vocabulary hadn't developed at the rate of his knowledge though. It sometimes made the boy very frustrated with himself. Minerva had tried to tell him that it was all right; he'd get it eventually. Albus pushed his feet into his slippers and grabbed his robe off the chair. Harry was definitely not a very patient child. Hopefully, he would learn.

"Well, look there," Albus said, pointing to a very small pile of presents. Harry already understood the concept of getting gifts, at least if he remembered Christmas. He might not remember. It had been months ago. "You have three, one from Yenty, Minerva, and me."

Harry giggled, but didn't run to the presents. He seemed content to walk over with Albus. After all, it wasn't like they were going to disappear, Albus thought. That much Harry did seem to realize. It was weird that he didn't seem to get that for other things, like talking and words.

"Yenty!" Harry shouted when the house elf popped into the room with a tray of his favorite breakfast food.

"Master Harry," Yenty said with a smile. "Happy birthday."

Harry grinned and let go of Albus' hand to run to Yenty. To Albus' surprise, Harry hugged the house elf and kissed her on the cheek just like he did with Albus and Minerva when he was feeling affectionate, which he often did. Albus noted though that Yenty didn't seem taken back. Obviously, Harry had done this before.

Yenty patted Harry on the head and reached to retrieve her present. "For you, Master Harry," she said, placing her gift in his hands.

Harry looked down and did nothing for a moment, then he abruptly started shedding the paper. Harry opened the box and inside was a bright green scarf. Albus immediately knew the significance. There was no greater gift a house elf could give another person than to give them clothing. While Yenty might not want to be released from her service, it was still held a lot of meaning in the receiving or giving.

Harry immediately started wrapping the scarf around himself and Yenty brushed his hands aside, and put it on properly around his neck. Albus smiled at the motherly gesture. The scarf was a bit impractical, considering it was summer, but the gesture was very kind.

Albus cleared his throat and Harry's attention snapped back to him. "Why don't you open my present, it's the pink one… I'm sure Minerva will be—"

"I'm here," Minerva snapped, the door to his personal rooms opening abruptly. "I was just detained."

Albus hid his grin when he caught sight of her. She looked fairly ruffled. Despite proof to the contrary, the Head of Gryffindor wasn't a morning person. She needed one strong cup of black coffee to get herself going, which was why Harry had started staying more and more with him. Not that it was much trouble, Yenty had proven capable of tending to Harry through the worst of his nightmares. He meant to broach the subject to Minerva, but wasn't quite sure of a way to do it without garnering her ire.

"Harry was about to open my present," Albus remarked.

Minerva inclined her head and sat into one of the armchairs. She smiled when Harry instantly went to her instead of picking up Albus' present. Albus watched as Minerva leaned down and turned her cheek so that Harry might kiss it. Then she kissed both of his and pushed him toward the gifts.

"Go open Albus' first," she urged.

Harry ripped open Albus' pink present and giggled when he saw that it was several boxes of his favorite candy. Harry quickly took one and started unwrapping it. He stopped when Yenty popped in front of him. He made a sad face and Yenty nodded. Swiftly he popped it into his mouth and sucked the rich cherry flavored chocolate.

"He's going to have a hopeless sweet tooth because of you," Minerva lamented.

Harry tore Minerva's present open and he started jumping up and down with excitement when he saw that it was a tiny toy broom. It was made for toddlers and it wouldn't do much more than zoom around in a coordinated pathway, aimed at avoiding walls, people, and furniture.

Albus turned his gaze toward Minerva and raised an eyebrow. "And you were saying?"

Minerva laughed. "Well, he likes to fly."

Already climbing onto the broom much to Yenty's distress, Albus could only remark wryly, "That he does."

* * *

It was a quiet afternoon, much like it tended to be when the students were gone for the summer holidays. Compared to last year with the escalating war, this was heaven. How people could resent such a mundane existence was beyond him to understand. After seeing to dark regimes, Albus was happy to sit with tea and cake in the presence of the two most important people in his life. 

"Alby?" Harry asked, waving a cookie in front of him.

Albus took the cookie and smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

Harry beamed at him and then snatched one for himself. He almost dropped it when Yenty appeared in front of him. She held her hand out and he reluctantly gave it up. He pouted and she flicked her fingers, a plate of fruit appearing. "Master Harry eat what Yenty made," she said. She floated the plate to the table and forked a piece, holding it up. "Aaaah," Yenty said.

Harry opened his mouth obediently. Gazing carefully from the side, Albus caught Minerva trying to fight back a grin. Albus did suppose it was rather funny how Harry could look so guilty whenever Yenty made her appearance. Food-wise it was hard to spoil Harry. Yenty was ferocious about making sure Harry ate properly.

It was a good thing too, Albus thought, stroking his beard. Minerva had been right. Harry was developing an outrageous sweet tooth. Alas, there were worse things to desire, and Harry certainly knew how to control himself. Yenty or no Yenty, Harry quit eating when he was full. Yenty picked up a piece of orange and Harry dutifully ate it.

"I must say, you made a good choice with Yenty," Minerva murmured.

"It's better than I expected."

"Oh?" she asked.

"Despite beliefs to the contrary, I do not know everything, my dear."

Minerva laughed softly. "I know, but from the sheer amount of mail you get—it seems no one else in Britain shares your opinion."

Albus sighed. "It's lessened a bit."

"Good Merlin for that," she remarked. "It's about time."

Albus waved his wand and poured them both more tea. "Indeed."

* * *

"I pity every house but Gryffindor," Minerva declared, watching Harry fly around on his toy broom around the Hogwarts grounds a few months later. "Look at him, isn't he brilliant? I doubt even his father could fly like that." 

"He does seem to be a gifted flyer," Albus remarked. There were few things he wasn't good at, but flying was one of them. He wasn't bad, but he avoided it like the plague if he could. There was rarely a time when using a broom was necessary. Apparation was far more useful.

"Seems?" Minerva said and snorted. "He's doing things with a toy broom that I've never seen before!"

"Doing things?" Albus queried, narrowing his eyes on Harry, who did seem to be maneuvering the broom. But that was supposed to be impossible, toy brooms were automated. They didn't listen to their rider.

"I think Harry's been using his innate magic to override the charms on the broom," Minerva remarked proudly. "But I've reinforced the safety spells on it. He can't fly any higher than what it'll go." Harry took a sharp turn and yelped excitedly. "Isn't his steering skills good?"

Albus pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I don't remember flying that well at his age."

Minerva sighed with happiness as she watched Harry execute another shift in direction. "He's a natural. I wonder if he'll be a chaser like his father?" she mused. "I'll wager that Gryffindor will be nee unbeatable with Harry."

Albus turned. "What makes you think he'll be a Gryffindor?"

She snorted and gestured with her hand. "Look at him, have ever seen a child more of a Gryffindor than him?"

"Just because he's a happy child with a sense of adventure doesn't mean he'll end up in Gryffindor."

"No, but it's a high probability," Minerva replied firmly. "Can you imagine him anywhere else? I know parents are hardly accurate indicators, but there were no two people who were more Gryffindor than James and Lily when they were at Hogwarts."

"They were certainly upstanding individuals," Albus remarked.

"Brave, loyal, and persistent," she murmured. "Just like their son."

"Loyalty is a strong trademark of Hufflepuff," Albus stated. "They are hard-workers, a sign of persistence, and Harry is a sweet boy."

"Are you implying Gryffindors aren't sweet?" Minerva asked sharply, though her eyes contained a gleam of mirth.

"Certainly not," Albus responded with a twinkle in his own eyes. "I was implying that Hufflepuffs were."

She inclined her head. "I suppose they are." Her eyes weren't looking at him anymore; they were focused on the darkening sky. "Harry!" she called. The boy quickly turned around and tilted his head in a quizzical fashion. "It's about to rain, we should go in."

Harry looked up at the clouds and his face fell, but he urged the broom toward them. Minerva opened her arms and he leapt into them. Wrapping his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist, he rested his chin on her shoulders. She stroked his back. "We'll be back tomorrow."

**TBC**

Author's Note: Thanks for all your support and please keep reviewing. Harry's age will increment by a year with each chapter, and there will be indicators in the text in case you forget. _Also_, it should go without saying I won't be updating for at least a few days (probably a week) after HBP's release. And is anyone from Houston? I can't wait to get the book!

**Firestar** (Thanks for your understanding); **dead feather** (I'm trying to organize this story, some 'Chimera' elements may appear); **chocolatedemon** (You're confusing 'Chimera' with canon, that was his reasoning there, but it doesn't necessarily transfer over); **sweets2** (I think AD/MM have a good friendship, but I doubt I'll do anything overtly romantic); **keebler-elmo** (for now it's gen, we'll see).

As always, I'm usually online on _sevviepooh_ so if you want to chat about the fic or HBP feel free to message me.


	3. The Second Keeper

**A Rewritten Life  
**by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Three  
_The Second Keeper_

"Master Harry must wake up," Yenty said, tugging the covers off him. "It is time for Master Harry to go eat. Yenty was told. Yenty must do this. Master Dumbledore said. Master Harry must get up!"

She ripped the blankets off of him and Harry curled immediately into a ball at the sudden draft of air. The young boy of more than three scowled for a moment before sighing. He fumbled around for his glasses, but as per normal, Yenty found them and placed them on his face for him.

"Master Harry sees?"

Harry nodded and his eyes focused on her. "Yenty," he said and smiled. "Food?"

The house elf nodded her heavily wrinkled face. "Master Dumbledore said Harry is to eat outside. Harry likes outside?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Harry does."

Yenty grinned and snapped her fingers. Harry's pajamas were changed into toddler-size wizarding robes of a pale yellow. Harry took a hold of Yenty's offered hand and let her guide him outside. He enjoyed eating outside in the sun, but he didn't get to as often as he would like.

-

Yenty told him to stay where she could watch him. Harry didn't know why she always hid behind the bushes, but he didn't disobey her and stray too far. The last time he had, she had cried and wailed, saying Yenty had been a bad house elf and that Master Dumbledore would never forgive her. Harry didn't like it when she cried, so he tried to make sure he didn't get out of sight. But sometimes it was hard, especially when he saw big things—bigger than owls, than Fawkes—in the air with what looked like his toybroom.

Harry stared up, watching them fly and giggled when one of them made a winding move. He gasped when one looked like they were going to fall and let out a relieved breath when he saw the person caught by an even bigger person. He wondered when he would be able to fly that high. Why didn't his broom go up like that?

Yenty popped up next to him and tugged on his hand. "Master Harry must go inside!" she exclaimed. "Now Master Harry!"

Harry let him pull her away, but he kept staring back at the people and the brooms. He wanted to fly like that one day.

-

"Hello Fawkes!" Harry greeted brightly when he walked into Albus' office with Yenty holding his hand. "Hello papa!" he said with a smile at the old man behind the desk.

"Albus, Harry," he reminded.

Albus knew Harry didn't understand _why_ Albus wasn't his papa. After all, he had read books to Harry and Albus knew he did all the things a papa should do for a child. So it was logical for Harry to ponder why Albus wasn't. He had promised he would explain, but he still hadn't. He didn't think Harry was ready for it yet, not at his tender age. Maybe when he was six or seven, when he was older. Albus watched Harry gaze down at the bright red and gold rug and he knew Harry was wishing he was older right now!

"Good morning… or is it afternoon?" Albus said. "I daresay whatever it is, it's time for lunch."

Harry grinned and scrambled around and held out his arms. Albus bent down and picked Harry up, placing him on his lap. "What would you like for lunch today?"

"Fish and chips!" Harry exclaimed, looking up pleadingly. He knew that he ought not to ask for the same thing too often. Minerva said it wasn't good for him, but the concept of nutrition went over his head. "Puh-leeze, Alby?"

Albus glanced down at this young child who had utterly captivated his heart. He didn't know why he had even thought to place Harry with the Dursleys, but he had fostered a hope that Harry would be happy there with his family. But where could Harry be more content than to be surrounded by magic? Where it was an everyday occurrence and where accidental magic wasn't considered unusual?

"You know Minerva wouldn't like it very much," Albus remarked. "You had fish and chips yesterday."

Harry let out a sigh instead of pouting. "Well, I don't want broccoli."

Albus chuckled. Harry had certainly grown to detest the vegetable. It had become more severe the older he'd gotten. He absolutely wouldn't eat it, even when it was covered with cheese. "I was thinking of having some roasted chicken and green beans, does that sound all right to you?"

Harry tilted his head, considering and nodded. "All right."

Albus glanced at Yenty. "Would you get the food?"

"Yenty will!"

-

"Now Harry," Minerva said, taking off her witch's hat, "you must count to ten before you can go to look for me, and you must count _loudly_."

Harry giggled and nodded. "Yes, Minnie!"

"And no asking Yenty for help." Minerva shook her finger at him. "That's cheating."

Harry gave her his biggest grin and said loudly, "One, two, three…" Minerva rolled her eyes and crouched down quickly, changing into her Animagus form. She was darting from her office to Albus' quarters where there was more space to hide. "Four, five, six…"

Minerva vaguely heard Harry shouting, "Seven, eight, nine, ten… here I come!"

Really the boy counted much too fast if she could still _hear_ him. She hadn't even reached Albus' rooms yet. Ah yes, now she was there. She darted through the special door made for her and glanced around the cramped, overcrowded room. Where to hide? Inside the dresser? No, she'd done that last time and Harry had found her. Maybe in… oh was that a cauldron? Had Severus left it there? Never mind it was perfect.

Minerva scrambled in and curled herself into a tight ball when she heard the door to Albus' rooms open with a loud bang. She wondered how long it would take Harry to find her. It didn't usually take him very long, though it wasn't like there was a large area for which she could hide. Well not until the students were out for summer holidays and that wouldn't be for several weeks more, but this would do for now.

"Minnie, Minnie!" Harry exclaimed, running in—his feet drumming against the floor. "Harry find!"

She held her breath, not making a sound when she heard him come close the cauldron. When he moved away she let herself inhale some air. She really did need to start working on proper grammar and sentence structure with him. Harry spent far too much time with Yenty for his own good. Of course, Albus thought it was fine, but Yenty had been his personal house elf for years and years.

"Harry find!" he squealed when his hands reached into the cauldron and grabbed her gently around her abdomen. Minerva yowled in surprise and gazed at him with her golden eyes. "Minnie," he cooed and stroked her belly just where she liked it.

Minerva sighed and rubbed her face against his chest. How had Harry found her so quickly? She was _positive_ the cauldron had been the perfect place. It was too bad Harry couldn't quite explain to her _how_, at least not yet. But soon, she vowed, soon he would.

-

Harry stared at Fawkes. He liked looking into the bird's eyes. They were strange and they glowed. Albus had told him this was a… phee-nick. It was different from the other birds that came to Albus. Those were… ah-wls. Harry reached and grasped the phoenix's tail and pulled.

Fawkes let out a high-pitched squawk. Harry giggled and stopped when he felt Albus' eyes on him. "Harry, are you bothering Fawkes again?"

Harry hid his hands behind his back. "No-oo," he stuttered.

"_Harry…"_

"Yesss!" Harry cried and bent his head down. "Sorry! Harry is sorry!"

Albus sighed and that was worse than the words. Albus looked… sad and Harry hated making people sad, it just wasn't nice. Harry knew it felt awful. It was like that time when—

"Come here, Harry."

Harry hesitated for a moment before running around the desk and flinging himself into Albus' lap. "'M sorry."

"You must understand, Harry," Albus said gently. "Lies aren't very good."

Harry nodded and clutched Albus' robes.

"You know Minerva would want me to punish you."

Harry only gripped the robes more.

"I should think no dessert would suffice?"

Harry didn't protest, but he did hiccup.

-

"We really need to do something about his speaking patterns," Minerva declared after classes had let out. "They're atrocious."

"Now, now, my dear, they aren't that bad." Albus poured her a cup of hot tea and slid it to her.

"He speaks like a house elf," Minerva retorted.

"Yenty is well-spoken," he remarked.

"_For _a house elf, but not a young boy!"

"Harry is only three," Albus pointed out.

"In a few days he'll be four!"

Albus took a sip of his tea. "What are you suggesting?"

"We should start schooling him."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you think Harry might be a bit young?"

"No," Minerva stated firmly. "I think it's time he had some proper instruction."

"And I presume you will tutor him?" Albus inquired. "I remember my grammar and spelling not quite up to snuff."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure it's quite adequate."

"I haven't taught in years…"

"Albus!" Minerva exclaimed. "You were one of the best professors to teach at Hogwarts!"

"Harry's quite a bit younger than my normal—"

"You let him mutilate your beard, and you're implying you might not have the patience to teach him?" she almost shrieked.

Albus shrugged. "It would be a change."

"You've something in mind," Minerva muttered, taking a huge gulp of the tea.

"Neither of us will have much time to instruct Harry fulltime during the school year," Albus remarked. "You've already dropped a few hints before that you'd be keen on the idea of Harry improving his vocabulary and grammar, and really I think we should consider hiring him a tutor."

"That is _hardly_ safe, Albus."

His eyes twinkled. "Won't you at least hear my suggestion before jumping to a conclusion?"

Minerva sniffed. "Who do you have in mind?"

"Your old student, Remus Lupin, of course."

-

Harry didn't quite understand the game behind Exploding Snaps, but the cards made him giggle and smile so Albus didn't feel it was bad to let him play. The cards seemed to like Harry well enough because even though Albus wasn't playing to _lose_ that badly, he did in fact lose_ very _badly

The game was over quickly as it usually was. Harry was reaching for the cards again to deal them out in his weird fashion, in which he kept all the cards he liked and gave Albus the ones he didn't. At least, that's what Albus assumed since it was what Harry did each time. Though why Harry didn't like the Ladies or Knights eluded him.

Albus placed his hand over Harry's. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Minerva kept telling him he shouldn't talk to Harry like he was an adult. As Minerva pointed out frequently, Harry was a child and he ought to be treated like one. But Albus had been talking like this to Harry for nearly two years and he wasn't about to stop now. It had become a habit.

Harry nodded and placed his hands on his lap. It was hard not to think of Harry as quite grownup when he acted with more reserve than many of the 1st years. Albus smiled and took out a lemon drop. "Would you like one?"

Harry held out his hand and popped the lemon drop Albus gave him into his mouth.

"Well Minerva and I've been talking about some things, and we think you ought to learn how to read, write, and speak properly. It's not that you don't speak well," Albus quickly said when he saw Harry pause in sucking the candy. "But wouldn't you like to speak better? Use more words to express yourself? You have to admit that… sometimes you get quite frustrated when you don't know how to say something."

Harry blinked and Albus was fairly certain a good deal of what he said wasn't being understood. He was thinking of a way to explain it better when Harry said, "Alby?"

"Yes, my boy?"

"Harry wants…" Harry scowled when the words wouldn't come.

Albus was relieved that Harry seemed to get the majority of what he was saying, though Albus did think it a little weird that Harry understood that much and yet couldn't speak. But vocal cords were a tricky thing to work. And really hadn't he read somewhere that some people could understand languages and not speak them?

"You want to learn?"

Harry nodded and the frustration faded. "Yes!"

"Well, that's good news," Albus remarked. "Minerva and I will be teaching you most of the summer, but when the school year starts—when the bigger people come back—you will have someone big like me and Minerva teach you while we're busy. Does that sound all right?"

Harry smiled and that was enough of an answer.

-

"Now when you're talking about yourself," Minerva said, pointing her finger at Harry. "You should use the word, _I_, not Harry. When you say you want something, you should say, _I want something_."

"I want something," Harry repeated.

"Very good," Minerva replied, smiling. "What would you like to drink?"

"Harry wants milk!"

Minerva stifled a groan. Obviously, Harry might be able to mimic but that didn't mean he understood quite what she wanted yet. Ah, the idiosyncrasies of children. If only Harry could drop the horrible house elf grammar and pick up a few words—he'd be on his way to being a well-spoken child.

Abruptly Yenty popped into the room. "Yenty heard Master Harry wants milk!"

Minerva sighed when Yenty snapped her fingers and a glass of milk appeared for Harry. It didn't help either, she thought with resignation, that Yenty had a habit of appearing during lessons and reinforcing Harry's bad habits with a verbal reminder of how not to speak. Why had Harry picked up the house elf's manner of talking? _After all, _Yenty didn't talk anywhere near as much as Albus did with Harry.

Sometimes the world really didn't make sense.

-

"We haven't made much progress," Albus mused, watching Harry babbling with Yenty.

Minerva scowled. "No, we haven't."

"Have you sent the owl to Lupin yet?"

Minerva turned sharply to him. "Do you think it's wise?"

Albus gazed at her calmly. "You were once his Head of House and I believe you once considered him a top contender for Head Boy."

"You know my concerns," she said softly. "You know that Remus and Sirius were fairly close friends, though not as much as Sirius and James. Can we be certain of his loyalty to Harry? Or must we worry about his old connection to Sirius?"

"I think to place our trust in him would not be unwise."

"You hardly make perfect decisions," she snapped.

"No," he agreed. "I could be wrong."

"And aren't you the one who says your mistakes are far greater than others?"

Albus inclined his head. "But I do not think I am wrong here."

"But if you are—"

"And if I'm not?" Albus interrupted. "You know he's the best choice."

Minerva pressed her lips together, turning her head to observe Harry and Yenty in an odd game that probably only made sense to the two of them. "I don't want to be wrong."

"There is no one I can think of that would be a better choice."

Minerva shuttered her eyes. "I suppose so."

"Can you think of another one?"

Her eyes snapped open. "There is the Weasley family. Molly Weasley. She has a child around Harry's age."

"We need someone who can stay in the castle," Albus stated firmly. "And you know the issue of Harry's safety is nil. Even if anyone would betray the information, they have to know who the Secret Keeper is." Albus glanced at Harry, who was on the floor giggling while being tickled by Yenty. "You know the ramifications of the Fidelius Charm. You know I won't speak."

"But we know the limitations of the spell," Minerva said. "And won't people wonder why Remus is here?"

Albus smiled. "Not if you're his Secret Keeper."

**TBC**

Author's Note: 985 hits… 33 reviews. (wibbles) You can do better than that, can't you guys? Anyway, I really liked HBP. I knew my _thoughts_ on Dumbledore (in Chimera) were perfectly validated. He makes mistakes and he knew. But I like the way this story is turning out. I think Dumbledore cares about Harry and I want to show that. You also get Remus and an awkwardly mother-like Minerva. Enjoy and review!

Thanks to **sweet as lemon**(Yes, this story is set to go through the books in some way, shape, form but not the same way hence 'rewritten'), **Tracy Mintzmyer** (Thanks for the support and understanding), **keebler-elmo** (I refuse to believe Harry is an _ordinary_ wizard. He has something extraordinary about him. His problem is he just never found it in him to use it).

As always, I'm usually online on _sevviepooh_ so if you want to chat about the fic or HBP feel free to message me.


	4. The Tutor

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while. _Lastly_, Harry starts out as being four in this chapter and ends up at being six years old. You'll see indicators. Enjoy!

Chapter Four  
_The Tutor_

It was a big day, that's what Albus had told him. Harry stood patiently while Yenty fussed over his appearance. Someone, his new teacher, was supposed to be coming. That's what he remembered from what Albus had said yesterday. He didn't know if Minerva or Albus was going to take him to this new teacher. But he hoped whoever it was, that they were nice like Minerva, Albus, or Yenty was!

Harry beamed at Yenty and kissed her on the cheek. Yenty turned a weird pale green like she always did when he did that. "Thank you!" he exclaimed and she took his hand, starting to pull him out of his room.

"Master Harry must go," Yenty said. "Headmaster says you must not be late."

Harry allowed Yenty to guide him to wherever they were going.

-

"Lupin," Minerva remarked, greeting him with a nod, "I trust your trip went well?"

Remus nodded and clutched one threadbare bag to his side. "It went well. The walk was nice."

Minerva smiled a bit stiffly. "That's good. While I may have been the one to extend the offer of employment to you, it will be Albus who introduces you to your charge."

"And who is my charge?"

"You'll find out shortly," Minerva said and gestured for Remus to follow after her. "But first let's get you situated in your rooms. The Headmaster thought it might be best for you to have a room that is close to your charge's; thus, you will be stationed next to the Headmaster's own quarters."

Remus blinked. "Is the charge… related to the Headmaster?"

Minerva didn't answer, she only kept walking forward.

-

It had been nearly five years since Remus had stepped into the Headmaster's Office. The last time he had, Remus winced to think about it. He had been extremely lucky that Dumbledore was an understanding man and he hadn't expelled him when his problem had gotten out of control. Not that it had been his fault, Remus thought darkly. _Damn Sirius. Damn him_.

"Remus Lupin?" Albus said and motioned his head. "Won't you come in?"

Remus stepped into the room, expecting to see a young child somewhere around, but instead only saw the Headmaster and a miserable looking phoenix. Remus turned to Albus, about to open his mouth and ask if there was something wrong, but Albus said, "Fawkes is on his last cycle. He needs to burn soon and then he'll be all right."

Remus nodded, suddenly remembering reading about phoenixes and their life cycles. He shook his head, wondering if he had made a bad impression on the Headmaster by not recalling a basic fact. He really hoped not, smoothing his worn robes. He swallowed hard. He did need this job.

"Please take a seat?"

Remus did.

"I will call your charge in shortly," Albus remarked, "but first I need to explain a few things to you. Normally, wizarding children attend a primary school like the one at Hogsmeade. However, there are special circumstances such as this one. My ward is special and requires utmost safety for his own good. I didn't mention it before, but Minerva and I believe it would be best if you placed under the Fidelius Charm."

Blinking with his surprise, Remus somehow managed to keep his mouth shut. Of all the things he could have expected, he certainly hadn't thought of this. "Why?" he croaked.

"For his safety since he is under my care, and you must vow to me you will keep him safe no matter what and that you won't harm him."

"I wouldn't harm anyone…" Remus murmured. He knew Albus was one of the few that didn't believe he was a beast that should be locked up, but it still hurt to hear the Headmaster ask him questions he should already know the answer to. "Not of my own violation, and of course I will keep him safe."

Albus nodded and smiled. "I didn't think so and I am glad there is someone else to watch over him. I've placed him under the Fidelius Charm, as you too will be. His location will be revealed shortly, though you won't be able to disclose it."

Albus snapped his fingers and a side door popped out of no where with an old house elf leading a young child with black hair and with the greenest eyes. Remus hadn't Harry since he was a baby, but there was no denying who this child was. "But… he's supposed to be with his Aunt and Uncle!"

"He was," Albus stated, "until they left him at an orphanage. He has been in my care since."

"Merlin," Remus rasped and held his arms out to Harry, only to watch the child run to Albus. Harry held out his arms and Albus picked the child up gently and set him on his lap. "I… who's to be my secret keeper?"

"Not me," Albus said. "But Minerva has volunteered."

-

"Hi," Remus said gently, lowering himself down so that he and Harry were almost eye level. "I'm Remus."

Harry smiled and to Remus' surprise, launched himself at him. Harry's arms went around Remus' neck in a tight hug. Remus almost couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged him with such exuberance… Sirius, he thought with a tight painful twist in his guts. How _could_ his best friend betray James and Lily… and Harry?

"Hi," Harry replied, resting his head against Remus' neck.

"I'm your tutor," Remus said as he held Harry close to his body. "Albus introduced us the day before."

"You teach Harry," he said. "Alby said so."

Remus blinked and nodded. Somehow he hadn't thought that Harry's grammar would be as bad as Albus and Minerva had confessed it to be. But it did seem they were right. However, it wasn't like Harry had a problem speaking coherently. He was easy to understand, just not grammatically correct in the way he formed his thoughts aloud.

"Yes, I'm here to teach you."

"Stay inside?" Harry asked.

"Would you like to?" Remus inquired back.

Albus had said that Harry liked to be outside, but he was often limited to being inside since there wasn't anyone who could watch him outside without being seen. Remus could understand after the Headmaster's explanation. Indeed it would be strange for Albus or Minerva to be outside by themselves, and even weirder for a house elf.

"Harry likes outside!" he exclaimed.

"_I _like _being_ outside," Remus said gently. "That's the proper way to say it, Harry."

"I like being outside," Harry repeated.

Remus smiled. He wondered if this 'job' he was being given wasn't more for his benefit than Harry. If Harry could mimic him this quickly, he didn't understand why it would be a problem to teach him how to speak properly. Probably Albus and Minerva simply didn't have the time. After all, he had no idea how busy a Headmaster or a Deputy Headmistress was.

-

"I daresay this is going better when we expected," Albus remarked, watching Remus and Harry playing outside on the Hogwarts grounds in his observing mirror. Minerva stood right behind him, peering over his shoulder. "Remus and Harry are quite close and it's only been a month's time."

"Well, Harry is a charming child," Minerva remarked.

"Indeed he is."

"Sweet too," she added.

Albus smiled fondly and turned his attention away from the mirror. "So how are Gryffindor first years adjusting to Hogwarts? Severus has already come by to report on the Slytherins. One girl has been particularly homesick, much to Severus' dismay."

"Or disgust," Minerva responded in amusement. "As per normal, a few Gryffindors cried for home, but no more than usual. Only one needed to come to me. The year-mates managed to comfort those that were homesick and if they couldn't, the prefects and older housemates did."

"Excellent," he replied. "How are the Transfiguration classes?"

"Good, though the first years are particularly bad," Minerva said and shuddered slightly. "If Snape's mood is any indication, I would gander that the first years are no better at Potions."

Albus' eyes twinkled. "Yes, he's already come to berate the first years… particularly the Gryffindors."

-

Harry liked Remus. Remus took him outside and he actually played with him! It was fun to have someone big pick him up and run around, let him crawl onto his back and be ridden like—like a horse in one of those books, and even better when Remus would do some magic. Like the one when he'd raise his wand and yell, _"Expecto Patronum!" _

And a bright yellow horizon like morning would appear with white mist that Harry enjoyed running through. Then there were the books Remus would read to him. They were such exciting books with bright moving pictures! Harry could even read a few of the words already. Remus had been teaching him how to read properly, and he could even speak properly now.

Even better, Remus stayed with him all day long and when he went away—then there was Albus and Minerva! Harry had never felt so happy as he did these days. It was wonderful to have someone with him, someone to hold him and hug him, and of course… play with him.

But why wasn't Remus here yet? Harry looked around patiently, waiting for Remus to come into his room at any moment and take him outside where they would run around and play a bit before starting their 'lessons.' Harry didn't mind them. Most of the time they were quite fun and... Harry grinned when he saw the door open, but it wasn't Remus.

"Where is Remy?" Harry asked, looking up at Minerva and holding out his arms. "Where is Remy!"

"I'm afraid he's sick today," Minerva remarked and reached down to pull Harry into her arms. "You really are getting too big to be held, dear. You're nearly five."

"A month!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "Only four weeks! Thirty days!"

Minerva smiled and ruffled his hair. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Yes, Yenty made me eat oatmeal," Harry said with a frown.

"Oatmeal is good for you."

"That's what she said!"

"Hmmm… well how would you like to spend the day with me?" she asked. "Would you like that?"

Harry nodded and pulled his face away a bit so that they could look each other in the eye. "How come Remy's always sick?"

-

"We can't keep this a secret from him much longer," Minerva declared to Albus a few evenings later. "You know Harry is a bright child and he's already started asking me questions. It's only a matter of time before he starts pestering Remus. It's a wonder he hasn't already. Thank Merlin, he decided to ask me about why Remus always looks so bad at the end of the month. I told him that it would be best to keep it to himself. That n one likes to hear bad things about themselves. But Harry is still a child, and you know how children talk."

Albus lifted his head and peered over his glasses. "Are you finished?"

Minerva scowled. "Were you even listening to me?"

"Of course," Albus remarked. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because a scroll is sitting in front of you and you certainly weren't looking at me…"

"You said, 'We can't keep this a secret from him, and by him you meant Harry, much longer. You know Harry is a bright child and—'"

"Okay!" she exclaimed. "So you _were_ listening."

"I do believe I said so earlier."

Minerva twisted her face into a frown. "You still haven't said anything about what you're going to do… about what I've said."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "What would you like me to do?"

"I think we should consider telling Harry."

"I thought you were the one who would not tell Harry everything."

Minerva flushed darkly. "In some circumstances, but don't you think it would be best if Harry knew about Remus' condition so he wouldn't become prejudice?"

"My dear, do you think Harry would be like that?"

"No."

"And while it's nice to know you would trust Harry with such an important matter," Albus remarked, "I think the decision lies with Remus."

-

"You were sick again," Harry accused, his eyes wide and worried. Remus felt his heart squeeze painfully. Minerva had already been suggesting to him that he might want to tell Harry why he was sick; after all, it had been proven over and over again that Harry was quite capable of understanding concepts that were beyond the average five year old.

"Yes," Remus admitted, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep this from Harry much longer. "But it's nothing."

"You look bad," Harry said bluntly, climbing onto his lap and placing his hands on both sides of Remus' face. "Tired," Harry remarked. "You should sleep."

Sometimes, Remus thought with wry amusement, he almost regretted teaching Harry his would, could, should's. It wasn't like he didn't want Harry to speak properly, but once Harry understood how to use those three words—he especially liked 'should.' Perhaps Remus shouldn't have told him that it could be used in a commanding way. The example of _Harry should eat his broccoli_ hadn't been the best one.

"Actually, I should be teaching you more words and there's a new book we _should_ read."

"Really?" Harry asked, excitement blossoming in his eyes and creeping into his voice. "Does it have magic?"

Remus nodded and smiled. He could understand a child's fascination with magic, especially Harry. It would be hard not to when Harry was living within the most magical place in Scotland. Remus _accio'_ed a book with far more words than pictures. As he opened it, he wondered if he'd liked his mum reading such text-oriented books at this age. He shrugged.

"Shall we begin?"

Harry beamed, but it slipped a little when he looked up at Remus' face. "You are all right?"

"I'm fine," Remus said and bent down to kiss the boy on the forehead. "_'In a land not so far from here, there lived a…'"_

-

"You should consider telling him," Minerva stated for what she thought must have been the hundredth time this week. But of course Remus wasn't paying attention to her. He had his nose buried into a book much like he had when he'd been a student at Gryffindor House. "I think he would understand."

Remus closed his book and set it down on the table next to his chair. "And why would I want to do that?"

"He's worried about you, Remus, and I think he ought to know why."

"I'm sick," Remus stated firmly, "and that's all he needs to know."

Minerva's right eye twitched. "If you're so shamed that you won't tell him, how is he ever to overcome being ashamed of you when you finally do?"

Remus said nothing; instead he got up and walked out of the room.

-

"Tomorrow's my birthday!" Harry declared with a bright smile plastered on his face. "You coming?"

Remus almost choked on tea. _Merlin_, he thought and shook his head as he got himself together. "Excuse me?"

"You coming?"

Remus smiled back. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

Harry took a large swallow of his pumpkin juice. "You don't have to give me a present."

"I don't?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Alby and Minnie told me you might not."

"It's too bad then I already bought you one."

"You did!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. His green eyes were flashing with such life.

"Mmm-hmm," Remus replied and set his cup of tea down. "I suppose I could always return it if you don't want it."

"I want it!"

Remus stifled his laughter. "Well then, I'll give it to you tomorrow."

Harry beamed and took the last cookie from the plate. He started to pull it closer to him, but stopped and looked up at Remus. "Do you want it?"

"You go ahead."

-

This was the best birthday ever, Harry thought while he hugged Remus close, the book he'd received squished between them. He couldn't wait to get Remus to read it to him. It was so bright and pretty and it Remus said it was about magical creatures. Harry had asked if they had dragons, snakes, and phoenixes in them and Remus had said yes. Harry particularly wanted to learn more about the fearsome snake-like creature he'd seen when he'd flipped through the contents. Its name was… _basilisk_.

There was another creature that stirred some interest. It had glowing golden eyes and fur of the darkest gray. Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth and it had such great big teeth. Harry felt a shiver go down his spine when he saw it, but he wasn't scared of it—not really. More fascinated and curious than anything else.

"Thank you so much," Harry whispered.

"You're quite welcome."

**TBC**

Author's Note: 1168 hits… 43 reviews. Better . Thanks and keep reviewing. I'm going to be slowing down in updating until after my MCATs. I still hope to put out one more chapter or maybe two before the test date, but… it might end up being none. Just hang on. I'll get there, I promise. I have about 5 more chapters of 'child' Harry before we start delving into 'Hogwarts' Harry.

Thanks to **Stahchild** (ah but this story is quite cheerful), **Eaiva le Fay** (I think Harry is quite adorable too, so it's okay. Well keeping Remus secret-kept is good for Harry since they can roam the school), **JayHun** (probably), **Liat1989** (b/c they think Harry should refer _James and Lily_ as mum and dad), **garnettvii** (you pick up speech patterns of who takes care of you most and in Harry's case, it's a house elf called Yenty), **sweet as lemonz **(Harry doesn't have any 'new' powers, more like he's always had them), and **dead feather** (are you done w/ HBP now?)

As always, I'm usually online on _sevviepooh_ so if you want to chat about the fic or HBP feel free to message me.

For those who want **_Chimera_**, the story I deleted because of supposedly advocating child abuse… I've archived it on my **_new_ Yahoo!group **here**: groups(dot)yahoo(dot)com/group/yih(underscore)fics/**


	5. Magical Beginnings

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Five  
_Magical Beginnings_

He was six and now a big boy, at least that's what Remus said and that's why he was finally going to get to learn some magic! Harry was bouncing up and down, even more excited about the day after his birthday than the actual day. Presents and all such things were good, but magic was _simply_ magic!

Harry had wondered why he couldn't have started learning it earlier; after all, he'd seen the bigger people using it all the time. So why couldn't he? There was something about magic that pulled to him and it itched under his skin like a bad rash.

"Master Harry must eat first," Yenty said firmly, snapping her fingers so that a bowl of sweetened porridge appeared. "Master Harry may not see Master Remus until Master Harry eats!"

Harry scowled, but picked up the spoon properly like Minerva had started teaching him. He knew better than to go back on those lessons. Whenever he didn't eat in the polite manner, he had to eat food he didn't like. Thinking about brussel sprouts and beets were a downer.

"Eat now!"

And Yenty, Harry thought, was really very bossy.

-

"Do I get a wand?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

Remus glanced down at his young pupil and the most important person in his life. He hadn't really thought anyone could ever replace Sirius or James, but this boy could. Merlin, Harry had him wrapped around his finger. But somehow the boy didn't know, didn't make use of it. He just wasn'tspoiled in the _rotten_ sense, though he was certainly spoiled in other ways.

Harry knew how to get what he wanted, and that's why Remus was teaching him magic before most wizarding children learned it.

He'd caved, but it wasn't something that went against Albus' or Minerva's wishes, so it'd proven fine. Remus didn't know if he could have denied Harry if either of them had said 'no'. Remus preferred not to think about that when things had turned out perfectly fine.

"Huh?" Harry tugged on Remus' robes. "Do I?" Harry gave his patent grin that could have sunk his knees if it'd been one of those _after_ nights.

Instead Remus smiled back. "You need to learn the basics before you begin to use a practice wand. You do realize _a good majority_ of magical children won't learn magic until they attend Hogwarts?"

Harry blinked. "But I'm already here."

Remus sighed. There were times when he almost wished Harry was a bit older, but as soon as he thought it—he took it back. Harry had already grown up so much already. Could it be a year and more had already gone by?

-

"You're seriously going to let Harry learn magic?" Minerva inquired, sitting as she was on the other side of the desk at their typical tea time in the middle of the day. "Because… you know most magical children, even purebloods don't learn until later…"

Albus dropped three sugar cubes into his tea. "I don't see why Harry needs to follow convention; after all, he's had quite the unconventional childhood."

"I thought—it might be nice for him to have more of a childhood."

He paused mid-sip. "What makes you think his childhood would end if he learned magic?"

"Don't make the assumption I'm ignorant," Minerva snapped, setting her teacup down with a large rattle of porcelain against porcelain. "I know that you think You-Know-Who is coming back, why else would you send Harry to the Dursley's if you didn't think that? You said he needed this protection… and what protection he received."

"Minerva, my dear…"

"No!" she almost shouted. "Don't even dare to deny it. Why else would you put him under the Fidelius Charm unless you think he's at risk? Why else would you allow him to learn magic this soon unless you think he needs to know how to protect himself? To fight?"

Albus set his teacup down. "Harry wishes to learn, would you deny him?"

Minerva pursed her lips together. "Do you persist in saying that's your only reason?"

"Of course not, it will also occupy his time nicely."

"Albus Dumbledore—"

"And he will learn how to defend himself and others."

-

It'd been a week and even though Harry hadn't done much more than read—well, more like Remus read the books to him—about magic, he wasn't bored. He knew unless he learned all this stuff really well, Remus wouldn't let him even try to use magic. Remus had even said once he got this all down… he might not be able to do magic, considering how young he was.

"I'm done!" Harry declared, waving the book that had more pictures than words.

Remus nodded and took the book from his hands. "Did you understand everything? Or do you have questions?'

"Well… it was like the other three that I've read this week, not much different except…"

"Except what?" Remus asked gently.

"This one talked about bad magic."

Remus nodded. "Go on."

"It said that the bad magic can make you feel good and that's why people use it even if it hurts other people."

"Yes," Remus said with a sigh. "It's the reason there are dark wizards in this world. There's something addictive about 'bad magic'. People can't seem to stop practicing it even though it's a well-known fact it's not good."

"But I'll be learning good magic, right?" Harry asked with slight trepidation.

"Most assuredly," Remus replied.

"Most… what?"

Remus smiled and patted his lap. "Assuredly means something like I agree with you."

"Oh," Harry responded, taking the hint and launching himself onto Remus. "I like it when you agree with me."

Remus chuckled and Harry really liked that. It made Remus sound happy and young—and it made his eyes crinkle at the corner and it made his face brighten up. He didn't look so tired as he normally did. Harry stroked Remus' face, looking into the dark brown eyes.

"I love you," Harry said softly, resting his head on Remus' shoulder. "Read to me?"

"Of course."

-

"How is he progressing?" Albus asked one fine day late in the afternoon when Harry sometimes took a nap, tired out by all the activities he'd done. "With his studies? With the magic…?"

Remus sat on the chair opposite of Albus, watching the older man pour him a cup of scalding tea. It was his favorite kind, though how Albus knew—Remus didn't know. But the thought was nice, as it always was. There weren't many who paid enough attention about a werewolf to know what he liked to drink.

"They're going as well as can be expected," Remus responded. "Harry has a good grasp on magical theory. It's almost extraordinary."

Albus hummed thoughtfully. "Harry is an extraordinary child."

"That he is," Remus agreed.

Albus nodded. "Are you teaching him every aspect of magic?"

Stiffening with the implications behind the words, Remus carefully answered, "The theory, but neither he nor I want to touch the Dark Arts."

"It is unfortunate that to understand the enemy you must learn things that you wish not to," Albus remarked sadly, wearily. "You can forego it now, but one day Harry will need to learn some less than savory spells."

Remus frowned and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think that Harry has truly destroyed Voldemort?"

He sucked in some air sharply, trying to keep his face bland. "Are you saying he's still out there?"

"I'm saying he's never been gone," Albus stated softly.

"And… and you're letting me teach Harry magic because of this?"

"It helped to make the decision to allow you, though I'm glad that we won't need to push Harry to learn magic at an early age. He seems to be the eager student. Enthusiasm for it is greater than any true gift."

"He has talent," Remus replied fiercely. "He does."

"I don't doubt it, but Voldemort," Dumbledore said and Remus flinched instinctively at the name once more, "is prodigious at magic. He always has been. Think of boy who not knowing he's magical is able to do great feats by just his thoughts. No training, no words, no wand—and yet the magic performs."

Remus shuddered.

"Teach Harry well for him, not us."

-

Minerva smiled as she watched Harry play around with Yenty. In the earlier days, it had perturbed her a bit—not used to seeing wizarding children frolic with house elves. But after so many years and so many sights like this one, she began to understand that Harry was not ever going to be a normal child. He did things that not many did. He befriended a house elf. Minerva knew without a doubt Yenty would die to protect Harry and no wizard should underestimate the power of a house elf.

Their magic was primitive compared to a wizard's, but no less effective. After all, it was no easy business keeping up with elaborate manor houses or in the case of Hogwarts, an encompassing castle. No, house elves had their own brand of powerful magic. Albus had made a wise choice when he'd assigned Yenty to care for Harry.

"Harry!" Minerva called when Yenty started smoothing out his wrinkled shirt. "Why don't you come here, dear? It's time for tea."

Harry nodded and grinned. "Do you want tea, Yenty?"

For some reason, Harry always asked this even though Yenty's answer was the same each time. "Yenty must say 'no'. Yenty will see Master Harry for his bath later tonight. Yenty must go now."

Yenty patted Harry before snapping her fingers and disappearing.

Harry sighed and ran over to Minerva, climbing into the chair opposite of her. "Why doesn't Yenty ever stay for tea?"

"Yenty can't always stay with you," Minerva replied, wishing Albus was here to explain this to Harry instead of her. "Yenty needs some time to herself."

Harry frowned. "But she says she's happiest with me."

"Does she?"

"Well, not exactly happy," Harry admitted. "I don't think Yenty knows what it's like to be happy, but she likes the work she does best for me. She likes to _serve_ me."

"Ah," Minerva remarked, understanding exactly where Harry was coming from. Yes, house elves did indeed like to work, though it seemed Yenty's favorite bit came in the form of Harry. "Well, what would you like with your tea?"

"Hmm… lemon cake?"

She smiled, couldn't help it. It seemed that Harry had developed a thing for lemons, probably from all those lemon drops that Albus kept giving him. Minerva shook her head and tapped her wand against the table, muttering her request to the house elves. After a few seconds, a tray of lemon cake popped into view with steaming hot tea.

"So how are you liking your lessons with Remus?"

"They're good," Harry mumbled while munching on the cake.

"And I suppose you like the magic best?"

Harry shrugged. "I like the stories more."

"When Remus reads you books?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Yup."

"So you don't like the magic?'

"Not that. I just like the books more."

Minerva inclined her head and picked up the teacup. She took a sip of the scalding liquid and stuck her tongue out to cool. "Careful, it's really hot."

Harry giggled around his mouthful of cake.

-

Albus also asked him the same question: "Are you enjoying your magic lessons?"

Harry nodded and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

"Are you learning a lot?"

"Yes, Remy taught me how to hold a wand properly even though I won't get to until I'm older," Harry said, wrinkling his nose. "Why is that? Why can't I have my wand? Remy says I won't even get to use a practice wand for a while…"

"You need to learn the basics first."

Harry chewed on his bottom lip, knowing that it could be quite effective—though he didn't really understand why it worked. Unfortunately, it didn't work quite so well with Albus as it did with others, especially Remus.

"As much as I know you'd like to do actual magic, it's important that you learn the theory first before moving on. It's for your own good and quit using that face. It won't work."

Harry giggled. "It does too."

Albus rolled his eyes. "On occasions when I allow it to be, yes."

Harry held out a piece of candy. "Lemon drop?"

-

This was surely the day Harry had been waiting for as the past two months had rolled by. Remus fingered the practice wand in his hand, twirling it around and checking its balance. It wasn't as good as his wand… nothing could really be as perfect of a fit as a custom-fitted wand. But this certainly wasn't bad. It was a superior practice wand. Undoubtedly, it was the one Albus had used when he was young.

Now all he was waiting was for Harry's arrival. Of course, he heard Harry coming before he saw him. The boy was chattering to Yenty as much as the house elf was talking back to him. Remus didn't think he really heard house elves talk very much, but Yenty certainly reprimanded Harry enough. Actually, it was quite remarkable how much Yenty could boss Harry around. Harry didn't seem to take much commanding around from others, but he did take it from Yenty.

Curious relationship, but without a question—powerful. Even he didn't know the extent of a house elf's magic. But whatever it was, Remus hoped it was enough to protect Harry from any dangers within the castle that couldn't be safeguarded by the Fidelius Charm.

"Remy!" Harry exclaimed, running over to him and launching himself into his open arms. "How are you?"

"I'm good, did you enjoy your breakfast?"

"I had porridge again," Harry declared with a nose wriggle. "I don't like porridge very much."

Remus grinned, but turned slightly to hide it. Even though Harry was quite mature for his age, like any other kid—he didn't like being laughed at. It was understandable. Six wasn't quite the age in which someone would want to be the cause of a joke…

"So what are we doing today?" Harry asked, rubbing his nose against Remus' neck. "Huh?"

Remus poked Harry's side with the practice wand. "We're going to see if you can do an actual spell."

"Is that what I think it is?" Harry squealed.

Remus grinned and nodded. "It is."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed, taking the wand offered to him and running his fingers over the polished oak as if it were a priceless artifact. "What spell should I do?" he asked and scrunched his face in thought. "I've learned so many different ones…"

"Something simple, something easy," Remus advised as he set Harry down. "Perhaps, _Wingardium Leviosa?_"

Harry frowned before looking up. "What should I make fly?"

Remus took out a feather he had borrowed from Professor Flitwick and placed it on the table nearby. "Aim your wand at the feather and flick your wrist as I taught you when you say the incantation. The feather should start to float if you pronounce it correctly with the proper wand movement and mental direction."

Pointing the practice wand at the feather and adjusting his grip until he was holding it properly, Harry said, "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _

His pronunciation was perfect and his wrist movement impeccable, but the feather didn't really fly. It seemed to almost float before flinching and falling. Harry scowled and jerked the practice wand forward again, about to say the incantation when Remus said, "Hold on."

Harry glanced at Remus with wide, distressed eyes. "What? Did I do something wrong? Do I not have magic?" Harry asked. "Why didn't it work? I did it just like you taught me!"

"Take a deep breath," Remus commanded and which Harry followed reluctantly. "Now clear your thoughts and point your wand like that and say the incantation again. It works better when you aren't over thinking. Just do it."

Harry did it and this time the feather floated for a bit before dropping to the ground when his attention wavered when he broke out into a grin. "Oh rats," Harry said as he watched the feather fall. "But I did it!"

"You certainly did," Remus murmured, relieved and overjoyed that Harry had succeeded. "Why don't you try it again?"

**TBC**

Author's Note: In my MCAT hiatus (in which I studied my bottom off and still didn't do well), I had 60 reviews –a _high_ for this story— and 2424 hits. Now that I'm back, please remind me why you like/love reading this and why I should keep going b/c God knows my Uni schedule is crazy this year. I get to read 50 to 100+ pages a day!

My yahoo!group (link on profile) will have previews of chapters, depending on how slowly I'm getting them out. Also, in keeping with guidelines—any questions can be directed there. There's currently a poll started by a reader about Yenty's underwear. It's a hoot!


	6. Growing Up

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Six  
_Growing Up_

Magic sometimes came easily to Harry and other times it was rather hard. But he didn't mind working for it because when he got a spell down perfectly, it was the best feeling in the world. It wasn't the fact he could do the spell that mattered to him—it was the smile on Remus' face, the measured praise from Minerva, and the twinkle in Albus' eyes.

"You'll be done with first year spells if you keep up this pace," Remus remarked, tapping his own wand against the opened Charms textbook.

"It's been over a year though."

"Harry, you're only seven years old," he reminded.

"I know, but it's not like… I'm not trying as hard as the first years."

Remus sighed and nodded. "You certainly work very hard and that's quite commendable of you. But you ought to realize that magic is like height. You will be able to access it more easily when you get older, much as you'll grow taller with the more years that pass."

"I'm so short," Harry responded mournfully.

"Actually," Remus said with a smile, "you're a fairly decent height. I think you're taller than I was at your age."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly. "Are you just saying that so I won't be sad?" He knew full well that Remus didn't like it when he was sad, but he didn't think Remus would lie to him either. But maybe Remus was saying that because he couldn't remember. Then it wouldn't technically be a lie…

"No," Remus responded. "You know I wouldn't lie to you and I know for a fact I was shorter than you. I was painfully short when I was a child."

Harry grinned. "But you're quite tall now! Does that mean I'll be taller than you when I grow up?"

Remus shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well, what do you think? Do you think I'll be taller than you?"

"What I think is that you ought to be reading up the _Alohomora _spell instead of chattering the time away. If you don't finish the theory, I won't let you attempt the practical this afternoon."

Harry frowned and wiggled his nose. "Oh fine."

-

"Harry is progressing nicely," Minerva remarked.

"Indeed," Albus agreed. "He is certainly a gifted individual, but then we were always aware of that."

"He's nearly through second year material in Charms and he's halfway through first year topics in Transfiguration. Of course, he's breezing through the Defense against the Dark Arts course load."

"He does seem to be particularly talented in Defense theory and practical, but that is Remus' specialty."

"And that's my point."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Yes, my dear?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts professors have been a mixture of terrible, bad, and passing," Minerva stated. "Don't you think it's time we had someone that actually has the ability to teach it well?"

"You wish for me to extend the professorship to him?"

Minerva's jaw tightened and she nodded severely. "I do."

Albus sighed and slowly shook his head. "You know that isn't possible, Minerva."

"Why not? Do you have something against him? I thought of everyone, you would be the most willing to hire him! After all, you did favor him when he was a student here…"

"Remus was a bright student and is still an intelligent man and he would make a good professor for any school. But I cannot allow him to take up the Defense against the Dark Arts position."

"At least give me a reason."

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Must I?"

"Yes."

"Voldemort."

She flinched as he knew she would.

-

Summer was nearly over and Harry had just turned eight, but some things never changed. Minerva watched Harry play with Remus and Yenty outside with his new broomstick. It was an actual broom this time, not some child's toy. Albus had actually shown some concern when Minerva had presented it to Harry this morning, but no one could deny that Harry was a remarkably good flier. And the amazing thing was, he'd only gotten that much better. At the rate he was going, Minerva would bet her Transfiguration position that Harry would receive many offers to join teams even before he graduated.

And thoughts of the outside world led to thoughts of other things that often concerned Minerva. She hadn't really broached the subject with Albus yet, but she thought it was about time that she did. Harry was growing up and he'd never interacted with anyone but herself, Albus, Remus, and a house elf. He'd never played with children of his own age, though there were certainly enough children around for him to see upon occasion. Of course, he never really observed them a great deal. He was usually kept in Remus' quarters during the day, learning some new spellwork. Minerva knew it was for his own good, but what was good wasn't always good.

Harry might be a charming, affectionate, and friendly young boy, but having never confronted anything bad, how would he react to people who might be cruel and unkind to him? She shuddered to put Harry in such a situation, but such things would happen and she feared that they had kept Harry too protected. His sweet innocence, which kept him so lovable, might very well be his undoing.

-

"Remus is sick again," Albus said, looking over his glasses at Harry. The child—no, the boy—looked quite upset and rather sad looking. Albus knew Harry was worried about Remus and would have certainly liked to know what was wrong with him. "But I thought you might like to spend the afternoon watching a quidditch game."

That certainly got Harry's attention, since there were very few occasions when either Albus or Minerva would allow Harry to go to quidditch games. It was simply too difficult to arrange, since Harry had to be seated next to them and since he was a person and required space, it often looked funny having a blank spot between them. Albus had to put on a concealing charm that hid the space, but there was still the fact there were so many professors in their box and it would be too easy for someone to inadvertently bump into Harry. But Albus and Minerva both knew that this was the best way to distract Harry from thoughts about Remus.

"Why is he always sick?" Harry asked and a few lines appeared on his forehead. "And don't tell me it's just a cold or something. He's like this all the time! Once every month! And it's been years! Is something wrong with him, Albus?"

Albus cringed inwardly when he heard his full name. Harry always called him Alby and this was certainly the first time he'd been called Albus. But Albus wasn't about to let a child, no matter how clever or earnest corner him, even if it was Harry. "That is not my liberty to say."

"I must ask Remus," Harry said softly and his eyes grew thoughtful in the way that often made Albus regret that he hadn't treated Harry more like a child. Minerva often hinted to him that Harry was too innocent and indeed, they had had a talk a few weeks ago about how Harry was simply too naïve to deal with the outside world. But Albus didn't believe Harry was too ignorant of what was good, what was in between, and what was evil. Harry simply had a kinder soul and that did not mean he did not understand that life was simply a world of cake, friends, and good times. "But he doesn't want to let me know, does he?"

"You've thought about this, haven't you?"

Harry pressed his lips together and slowly nodded.

"Harry, my boy," Albus said with a sigh, "I wish things could remain easy and simple."

"But they can't." Harry bent his head a little and smiled rather sadly. "I'm growing up."

And he was, much to Albus' dismay.

When Harry lifted up his head, his smile was bright and it was like that brief interlude of sadness had never occurred. "Yes," he said, "I would very much like to watch a quidditch game."

-

Remus knew that one day Harry would confront him about his constant illnesses. Remus had always wanted to tell Harry before that day, but for a Gryffindor, he sadly lacked courage in such an endeavor. Maybe if James or Sirius (even though it was hard to think about Sirius without wanting to cry or scream or rant) were here, he might have had the bravery to do it earlier, before Harry had to come up to his room and look at him with such a stoic expression for an eight year old.

"Tell me," Harry said simply without so much as an indicator of what he wanted to find out. But Remus knew and he knew Harry knew he would understand him. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Remus said and quickly continued before Harry might protest that he wasn't a child and that he knew something was wrong, "with me in the way that things could be wrong. It is simply the way I am, who I am now. I didn't always use to be this way. But when I was child, a little younger than you, it happened and it changed me to what I am now."

"What?"

Remus paused and looked down at his hands, at the floor. It was easier than meeting Harry's eyes. "I am a werewolf."

The silence in the room was almost deafening. Remus wished there was noise of some sort, anything to break this unease. But it seemed like Harry didn't know what to say or how to react. Maybe Harry was feeling sick, knowing that Remus was a werewolf and had been teaching him all along. After all, werewolves were monsters and Harry had seen the horrible pictures of them in that book he'd given to Harry so many years ago. Oh Merlin, why had he even told Harry? He could have said anything, anything, and Harry would have believed him. Remus trembled and cursed himself for not lying, for having to say the truth. But he loved Harry so much and Harry was really the only one he had left. And he couldn't lie.

Remus almost jumped when he felt Harry's small arms slide around his waist and hold him tightly. "I don't care," Harry whispered. "I love you."

-

It was another one of Remus' sick days and Harry sat outside the Whomping Willow waiting for Remus to emerge. Now that Remus had told him the truth, Remus never tried to hide anything from him. Remus told him about what he went through and how hard it was on him and how he wished he could be normal again, but he couldn't so he had to live with it. Harry wanted to tell Remus he was brave, that Harry knew of no one braver, but whenever he was about to say so, there was something in Remus' eyes that would stop him. Instead Harry would say that he loved him and hoped that was enough.

Of course, Remus never said the words back and Harry wondered if Remus loved him as much as Harry loved him. Harry liked to think so and way back in his head and heart, he knew that Remus did love him. Remus showed it, but sometimes Harry would have liked to hear the words. It was like Remus was afraid, of what, Harry didn't know.

"Bloody tree," said a low, irritated voice. Harry turned around and saw the Potions Master. Minerva had warned him to always be quiet when Snape was around because Snape had terribly good hearing and would know something was up, even if he could see Harry. "It's been acting strange for too long."

Harry felt his stomach tighten when Snape said those words. He knew the reason why, but he was certain Snape did not. He wanted to run and tell Minerva that Snape knew something was up and he was sure that Snape wasn't supposed to know this. But he couldn't move, couldn't leave, not without making a sound, even when Snape stood so close to him that Harry could easily touch him if he dared.

"Like before," Snape muttered. "Like before."

Harry didn't have any idea what Snape meant, but he had a feeling that it was no good.

-

"I wish you would _actually_ listen to me," Minerva said, standing in front of Albus with both of her hands balled up and on her hips. "And I mean it!"

Albus looked up from another mess of paperwork that Fudge had sent him. It was another important issue that Fudge needed counsel on. Albus sighed inwardly, wondering if it was better this way or not, to have a minister who didn't have enough original thought that he had to rely on others for almost everything. He supposed it could be worse; at least Fudge was an idiot who listened to those that weren't. That was his only saving grace. "I do try," said Albus. "But…" He swept his hand over his very busy looking desk. "I find myself quite distracted."

"I have already broached the subject to you before," said Minerva, sounding quite irritated. "It is about Harry and his need to interact with children his age."

"I think you underestimate Harry's ability to adjust."

Minerva pressed her lips together and Albus wondered if she might explode. "He has never needed to adjust before. His life here is simple and carefree. He's always been coddled, not only by you, but me and of course, Remus and Yenty!" After the outburst, Minerva fell silent and Albus could almost hear her thinking. "He needs to meet other people. What about the Weasley children? Mrs. Weasley has two children around Harry's age, a girl and a boy. Why not let him meet them?" Minerva paused. "You know that one day, not too far from now, you'll have to take down the Fidelius Charm, or else how can he attend Hogwarts?"

Albus sighed and nodded. "I have thought of it."

"And?"

"And if Harry wants to actually meet other children," said Albus, "I certainly won't stop him."

**TBC**

Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long (school has been stressful). This chapter has been in media res for about 3 months. I just finished it all today. Thanks for all the reviews (it certainly got me working).


	7. The Weasleys

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Seven  
_The Weasleys_

There were problems, of course, with telling children they were going to meet somebody new and that they couldn't really talk about that somebody anywhere except at home. That was what Mrs. Weasley tried to explain to her two children, Ron and Ginny, but she wasn't quite sure they understood the importance of what she was trying to tell them. But she knew they were good kids and would likely do as they were told. After all, they weren't the Twins and good Merlin had those two ever given her a headache!

"Are you both ready?" Mrs. Weasley asked, holding up a special portkey that would transport her and her two children to Hogwarts.

"Yes mum," Ginny answered first and Ron mumbled the same after her. "We're ready."

"Well then," Mrs. Weasley said and placed the portkey on the table where it was easy for both of them to reach, "hold the sock tightly and make sure you don't let go until I say so, understand?"

-

Harry and Yenty were waiting in the Headmaster's Office for the Weasley children to arrive. Albus was also with them, but he was quite busy trying to get through another pile of paperwork. "Oh!" Harry exclaimed when suddenly three people, one large and two small, tumbled into the room. "They're here, Alby!" He turned around and ran over to Albus' desk.

Albus lifted his head from his paperwork and smiled gently at the boy. "I can see that." He stood up and walked over to where Mrs. Weasley and her two children were sorting themselves out. "Good day, Molly," he said and looked at her children, "and you two." He smiled at them and said, "Ron and Ginny, this is Harry. Say 'hello,' Harry." Albus turned and urged Harry to stop hiding behind Yenty and himself.

Harry took a cautious step forward, his eyes fixated on the floor, and he mumbled, "Hello."

"Hi!" said the girl as she held out her hand just under his face. "I'm Ginny!" Harry looked at the hand for a moment and then shook it. Ginny broke out into a huge grin and when Harry lifted his head up, she gestured to the boy standing next to her. "That's Ron, he's my brother."

Ron nodded and also held out his hand. Harry took it and shook it as well. They both muttered, "Nice to meet you" at almost the same time. That caused them both to grin and look down at the ground.

Albus looked over the children toward Mrs. Weasley and they shared a smile. The children, they knew, would get along fabulously.

-

"So," Remus said, sitting himself down next to Harry on the field, "did you like the Weasleys?"

"They were nice," Harry said, looking down at his hands, not really knowing what to say. "I liked them."

Remus smiled and pulled Harry into his lap, even though Harry was probably getting to old for that. But until Harry protested, Remus really didn't mind the extra weight. It was solid and comforting and it just felt good. Since he couldn't have a child of his own, Remus considered Harry his and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for him.

"There are other children, you know," Remus said. "You don't have to like the Weasleys, not if you don't want to."

"It's not that," Harry said. His eyes were wide and so green. "It's not that I don't like the Weasleys, but that I don't feel comfortable 'round them. They're just… really, uh, loud."

Remus laughed softly and hugged Harry close to him. Even though Harry had grown up surrounded by children in the hallway, he'd never really been with others being loud and having fun before. Remus had been around Harry for so long, he'd forgotten that other children weren't like Harry. They weren't so quiet and so thoughtful, they were loud, disruptive, and quite a handful. Remus wondered if Harry had ever been a real trouble, of course he got into mischief, what child didn't? But Harry had never really been bad.

"And enthusiastic," Harry continued. "They make me so very tired."

Remus ruffled Harry's messy hair. "As I said, there are other children."

"And I'll meet them?"

"If you'd like."

Harry rested his head on Remus' shoulder just like always and wrapped his arms around Remus' waist. "I don't really care."

-

It was a bright and beautiful afternoon outside when Minerva burst into the Headmaster's Office, looking less than pleased. "Albus!" she exclaimed and Albus looked up from his paperwork and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it, my dear?" he asked.

"You really must do something about Snape," said Minerva. "He's getting far too curious for his own good."

"That again." Albus pushed his glasses up his nose. "Harry has mentioned Snape's been noticing odd things."

"He has told me he thinks there may be another ghost unaccounted for at Hogwarts!"

"Ah yes," said Albus, "he has said confessed something similar to me."

"And?" asked Minerva. "Are you going to do nothing? You know Harry and Remus listen far better to you and me."

"What shall I do? Tell them they cannot leave their rooms? Lock them into a comfortable prison?" Albus shook his head. "You know that is no way to live." He paused. "I think we must tell Snape the truth."

"But Albus—"

"Yes, I realize he _was_ a Death Eater," said Albus. "But who he was then is not necessarily who he is now."

"Albus…"

"My dear, don't believe in second chances?"

Minerva sighed and had no choice but to nod. She really did hate it when Albus got the final word. Why did he always seem to win?

-

"_Accio_ book!" Harry exclaimed and his eyes popped open when a stack of books just flew toward him. Luckily, Remus had his wand out and he quickly erected a wall to block the books from nailing Harry.

Remus grinned and shook his head. "You must be more specific Harry. Book is too vague, even if it is in the singular form."

Harry grimaced and nodded. "Thanks."

"Why don't you try it again?" Remus gestured at the Transfiguration textbook. "With that?" The textbook was for third year and Remus had a feeling Harry would be on the OWLs before he even started Hogwarts. Smart, little bugger.

"_Accio _Transfiguration text!" And the textbook flew into Harry's ready hand. Harry grinned and jumped up and down excitedly. "Did you see that? I did it!"

"Yeah," Remus said, glad that even after all that Harry had learned, he could still take such a simple pleasure in learning a new spell correctly. "I saw."

-

Both Remus and Minerva were seated across from Albus in the Headmaster's Office. They were here to discuss the other options Harry had. While they all agreed that the Weasley children were joyful and boisterous, but perhaps they were too much of a good thing and another child might be better suited to Harry. Of course, Harry would see Ron and Ginny again. He had mentioned a week after he had seen them that he wouldn't mind if they came occasionally, just not _too_ often.

"There is the Longbottom boy," Albus said. "His situation is… similar to Harry's."

"Is that necessarily a good thing?" Minerva asked. "Getting those two together?"

"I don't think it'd necessarily be bad," Remus said. "But I've talked to Harry and he says he really doesn't care about meeting other children. It doesn't matter to him."

"But it should!" Minerva exclaimed. "He should want to meet other people his age, it's natural."

"I believe one of the reasons," Remus began, "is that he's rather mature for his age. I think Ron and Ginny are simply too young for him. Maybe older children might be better. After all..." Remus looked at them. "How can you expect him to get along with other children when he's been around adults all his life?"

"That is true," Albus said. "And we should not push him. When he wants, he can see the Weasleys again and if not, then whenever he wants to meet other children, he will ask. He now knows he has the option."

-

Harry sat in his bed, waiting for Yenty to bring his milk. He yawned and closed his book. It was a book of muggle fiction, and Harry wasn't quite sure he liked it or not. But he did have to admit that the concept of people fighting for the good of their world was something beautiful to think about. Harry set _The Fellowship of the Ring_ aside just when Yenty popped into the room. She grinned in the way only a house elf could and handed him his warmed up milk.

"Master Harry's milk," Yenty said. "Will Master be wanting Yenty to get him anything else?"

Harry shook his head and said, "No, I'm good. You go get some rest." Yenty smiled and Harry leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "See you tomorrow."

Yenty then popped out of sight and Harry settled back into his bed, sipping on his milk occasionally and looking out the window at the night's sky. It was a full moon so Remus wouldn't be here tonight to read him a story. Harry liked the muggle book better when Remus was reading it to him, though he really didn't need Remus to read to him anymore. He could do it himself, but that didn't necessarily mean he had to. Maybe Ron might laugh at him, but that was only because Ron wanted to grow up so fast. Harry didn't care. As long as he had Remus, everything would be all right.

-

The next day Remus felt like he was more dead than alive. Every time, it seemed, it got that much harder. He coughed and buried his head into his pillow. Albus must have gotten him from the Shrieking Shack last night and moved him to his bed. He'd have to thank him later today, whenever he saw him. Now he had to get up and go find Harry and have breakfast. It was their usual routine and Remus was loathed to change it.

"Morning," Harry said and Remus jerked his face up. "Breakfast?" Harry tilted the tray just a bit to show Remus the eggs and bacon and toast he'd brought. Well, it was likely that Yenty had brought it, but Remus knew it was Harry's thought.

"What time?" Remus asked. He coughed again and tried to clear his throat. "Late, isn't it?"

"Not that late," Harry said. "Anyways, it's Saturday, you're allowed to sleep in."

Remus grinned and patted the space next to him on the bed. "Sit down."

Harry set the tray to the other side of Remus and then wiggled under the covers and actually lied down next to him, snuggling close. "Do you mind?"

"Too late now."

"Not really."

Remus shook his head. "You know I don't."

"Just making sure."

"Eat your toast," Remus said. "And I'll eat my bacon."

-

Harry didn't see Ron or Ginny for a long time. He had practically forgotten about them when Albus had asked him one morning if he might like to see just Ron this time since Mrs. Weasley had told him that Ron had asked about the boy that we're not supposed to talk about.

Harry stopped eating his biscuit and put it down on the plate. He looked up at Albus and shrugged. "I guess. I don't mind."

"You don't have to, you know," Albus said. "It's only if you'd want to."

Harry bit his bottom lip. "He asked about me?"

"Yes, my boy."

Harry's eyes darted away from Albus' and he settled on one of the only parts of the wall that did not have a portrait on it. He stared at it for a while, thinking about what it was like to think about someone. He hadn't actually thought about Ron much at all, other than thinking the boy was a bit loud, but not as loud as his sister. Well, if Ron wanted to see him, then Harry supposed it wouldn't hurt. He had liked Ron, he just didn't like him as much as he liked Remus.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "I'd like to see Ron again."

Albus smiled like Harry knew he would, and Harry smiled back before digging back into his biscuit. He had to remember to tell Yenty that these biscuits were particularly good.

-

Ron clutched his chess set close to him and also tightened his grip on his mum's hand. He watched Mum toss some floo powder into the fireplace and shout, "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office!"

Then she stepped forward, pulling him with her and they disappeared into the glowing fire. Ron's stomach felt funny after floo travel, but it was something that Fred and George said he'd get used to. Ron wasn't so sure about that. Fred and George said a lot of things that weren't true and Ron knew not to believe every word they said. But he really did hope it got better because every time he got to the place he was suppose to be, he fell.

And as usual when they emerged from the floo, Ron stumbled and would have fallen to his knees, but Mum jerked him upright before he could. He smiled up gratefully at her, but she was too distracted. Ron looked away from her and saw Harry. Ron cringed, aware that he must look like a clumsy clod.

"Hello," Harry said softly. He walked over to Ron and he was smiling.

Ron smiled back. "Hullo."

"Would you—would you like to play outside?" Harry asked. He flushed a light red and looked down. "I've got a broomstick."

"Oh." Ron looked up at his mum. "Can I?"

Mum nodded and Ron broke out into a grin. His older brothers had broomsticks, but they wouldn't let him near them. Ron knew that Harry's broomstick wasn't really a _real_ broomstick—it had to be one of the kid versions—but that didn't matter. All he wanted was to touch one and maybe, just maybe Harry might let him fly one.

Harry held out his hand. "Let's go?"

Ron hesitated for a second before he grabbed Harry's hand. Maybe Harry would be different from the other kids he'd met before, the ones who made fun of him for his red hair and his scruffy clothes. Maybe, just maybe.

-

Molly watched Ron and Harry walk off, hand in hand, and she smiled. Her youngest boy sometimes worried her quite a bit. Ron had been as boisterous as any of his brothers when he was young, but the last two years he'd withdrawn a little and she wasn't quite sure why. Ginny was easily the more dominating of the two, always dragging her brother around and it was nice to see Ron being able to interact with someone that was not as demanding. She hoped the two would be good friends. She had a feeling it'd be good for both of them.

"Molly?"

Molly turned around to Albus. "Yes, Headmaster?"

Albus extended two thick envelopes to her. "I thought I would save the owls a trip to the Burrow since you're here."

"Of course, of course," she said and took the envelopes. She looked at the names and smiled: _Fred Weasley _and _George Weasley_. "I'm sure the twins will be thrilled. They've been waiting for these letters for a longtime."

Albus' eyes twinkled. "Give them my best wishes."

"Oh, I will." Molly tucked the letters into her robes and turned to head back to the fireplace. She paused when she got there and turned her head around. "Floo me when I should pick Ron up." She heard Albus say he would before she threw the floo power in and shouted, "The Burrow!"

-

Harry scratched his head, looking back and forth from Ron's pieces to his own, not really sure if he should move his rook or his bishop. He was a bit in a bind and if Ron's expression was any indication, it didn't really matter what piece he moved, he was probably going to be checkmate. "Erm," he said and smiled sheepishly before just moving his bishop across the board.

Ron grinned and capture that piece with his knight and said, "Your turn."

Harry groaned. Harry had known the fundamentals of the games before Ron had asked him to play, but that hadn't helped much. Harry didn't think it was because he was bad at chess. Ron was just _so_ good at it. Harry thought he liked his Ron a lot more than the Ron he'd seen the first time. Harry wondered if Ron liked reading books like he did and if Ron liked learning magic. Harry figured he could ask later after the game. Now what piece should he move? He might be losing, but he could at least make the game last as long as possible…

"Ron?" said Minerva as she came into the room. "Your mother's here and she said you had better hurry since dinner is about to start."

Ron looked up and frowned. "But we're not done."

"Well you could talk to your mother about that, but I'm afraid I won't do that for you."

Ron scowled for a moment before he started gathering up the chess pieces and putting them back into the wooden box. "I better go," he muttered. Harry put a few pieces up before Ron closed the box. "Uh…" Ron stared at Harry, holding his chess set. "Can I play with you again… f you don't mind."

Harry smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

Ron's eyes were wide and incredibly bright when he said, "Brilliant. See you soon then."

Harry watched Ron leave with Minerva and was still staring at the door thinking that she was right. It was nice to play around with boys his own age. Harry smiled and picked up a book from the shelf and hurried off to find Remus and tell him about his day and his new friend.

**TBC**

Author's Note: I was away in the UK for the spring semester and then I had a mess of stuff to do when I got back. Now I'm sort of stuck in the application process for post-grad and haven't started my internship yet, so I'm writing again since I can't seem to write originally  I decided might as well try to write some fanfiction. I might be coming up with a new AU non-magic series. We'll just have to see about that one. Thank you so much for supporting and it's because of you guys this is chapter exists!


	8. Many Shields

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

_Chapter Eight_  
Many Shields

Ron missed Harry a lot when he didn't get to see him, but Ron knew that Thursday was coming and he loved Thursdays because he got to see Harry at Hogwarts. Ron knew that Ginny wondered where she went and sometimes she'd whine to Mum about it, but Mum never did say Ginny could go along. Ron didn't know exactly why. That didn't really matter much to him because he liked the fact he got to do something that Ginny didn't. He really liked the fact that she didn't get her way like she always seemed to do.

Ron sighed and looked out the window. He wished he was at Hogwarts like the twins were, then he'd get to see Harry all the time. But… unfortunately that wouldn't happen for a few years yet, so he'd just have to wait. Ron frowned. He wasn't good at that and that only reminded him it was _only _Tuesday and he still had Wednesday to go. Drat.

-

Harry was sitting in front of Albus and Fawkes was in his lap. Harry stroked Fawkes' beautiful feathers while he listened to Albus talk about the art of Occlumency. Harry did find the subject matter interesting, but he wasn't very good at it. Every time Harry tried to block Albus from getting into his mind, he would end up failing and Albus said it wasn't his fault. Albus told him that he was just a very, very good Legilimens and that Harry was young and that was the reason why Harry was having a hard time. Harry scowled. He wasn't just having a hard time, he was failing and Harry didn't like failing.

"I think that is all for today," Albus said. He smiled and snapped his fingers and a house elf came in with a tray of tea and biscuits. "Why don't we have a little snack before you off to your Charm lessons with Remus?"

Harry took a biscuit, pausing before he bit into it when he heard the door opening in a rush, and he dropped it when he heard Snape's voice saying, "Albus, you really must do something about those Weasley boys! They are _impossible! _They are—"

Albus winked at Harry and Harry knew exactly what to do. He got up from the chair as quietly as he could and inched away from Albus' desk just in time as Snape came up and leaned across it. Harry rolled his eyes as Albus' eyes kept twinkling as if he had a great secret he was hiding and Harry supposed he did.

"Now Severus," Albus began, "they are just mischievous first years…"

"They changed a numbing potion into the most ghastly odor-intensive potion I have—"

"They did not blow up their cauldrons?"

"No, but—"

Harry slipped out of the Headmaster's office and left Albus to sooth Severus' less than pleased temper after having to suffer through a class with the Weasley twins. Harry quite liked them.

-

As was typical after a full moon, Remus was lounging in his old scruffy chair that was unbelievably comfortable. Harry grinned when he saw that Remus was reading another book on defensive magic. Maybe Remus would start teaching him the theory behind some new spells so that they could get to the practical demonstrations when Remus got better. Harry mentally crossed his fingers before he greeted Remus, "Hello."

Remus closed his book, keeping a finger between the pages so he didn't lose his spot, and he lifted his head. "Harry," he said, smiling, "done with your Occlumency lessons already?"

"Alby got interrupted by Snape again," Harry said. He leaned against the chair's arm. "Snape was complaining about the Weasley twins. He was furious. I don't think his face could be redder."

Remus' lips twitched, but other than that he kept his expression blank. Harry thought if Remus wanted to laugh, he should just laugh. Harry didn't really understand why Remus thought Snape was amusing, but Harry knew that Remus did. Snape was just annoying to Harry. It seemed he was always interrupting something that Harry was in the middle of with Albus. Harry mused though; at least he wasn't afraid of the man anymore. When he had a little boy Snape had used to terrify him a bit, not that he would admit that to anyone.

"So anyway…" Remus began, "what would you like to do today? We could do some Charms or Defense or even Transfiguration theory."

"Defense," Harry said. Defense was his favorite subject and it wasn't even because it was Remus' favorite. Harry just liked it because he liked it. Charms and Transfiguration were a lot of fun too, but something about defensive magic was just a lot more comfortable, if that even made sense to anyone excepting himself. "Only if you want."

"Well even if I didn't want to," Remus said, "I did suggest any of those three so if I decided to pick after giving you a choice, that wouldn't be right, would it?"

"No."

Remus turned the edge of his book to hold his spot and then flipped it forward to nearly the front and passed it over to Harry. "Read this and when you're done let me know."

Harry took the book and sat down on the floor at Remus' feet and began to read: _Shields are the most powerful and least specific type of defense magic…_

-

Albus was satisfied with Harry's progress, as little as it was in the arts of shielding the mind from intrusion. For someone of Harry's age, Harry was already a gifted occlumens. Albus didn't even think he could grasp even a tiny portion of the concept of Occlumency at that age, much less be able to erect a mind barrier. Of course, Albus knew that Harry's idea of using a door to hide his thoughts wouldn't work against most decent occlumens, but it was a good start. Later on Albus would tell Harry that the best way to shield his mind was to make it seem like he had nothing to hide. It often made your opponent think he had you when he didn't and that's when a good legilimens could do the switcheroo on his attacker.

Albus jerked his head up when he heard someone knocking on his door. He knew immediately it wasn't Severus since Severus _never_ knocked. "Come in."

"Albus," Minerva greeted as she walked into his office, "I was thinking that perhaps it is time that I took over Harry's training in Transfiguration. I know that Remus has been doing a good job of it and he had excellent marks in Transfiguration, but Harry is about to start year three topics and I think it would be best for me to teach him now."

"Then you should talk to Remus about that," Albus said.

"I thought you might say that."

Albus smiled and said, "What is the real reason you came to see me, my dear?"

"Do you think—" Minerva paused. "Do you think we are pushing Harry too hard at too young of an age?"

"You know he must be prepared…"

"I do, but he could just work harder when he is a student, he doesn't need to be reading all those books on magical theory and practicing spell work most of the day. He is, after all, only nine." Minerva sighed. "Sometimes I forget that he is still a child."

"Though I agree with your sentiment," Albus said, "the problem would be that Harry genuinely enjoys his work and it is like play to him. We might have initiated this, but Harry is the one who pursued this to this level. I would be perfectly fine if he was still on first year work, but his thirst for knowledge, his natural curiosity has allow him to go much further than any child should. I have already recommended to Remus that he slow down what Harry learns as much as possible without frustrating him." Albus pushed his slipping glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I sometimes wonder if what we are doing is right. I am glad that we can keep some secrets that worry us away from him. Let magic be something Harry enjoys with such wonder for as long as possible. Let him not know the reason why he must know magic. Let him be a child that just likes learning magic for the sake of learning and not because he has to for now."

"Albus…"

"I know, my dear, I know. We are doing the best we can."

"That might not be good enough still," she whispered.

He lowered his eyes to his desk, littered with parchment after parchment of requests that he'd rather not have to deal with. "You only fail if you refuse to try."

-

When Thursday came, Ron was just about to bounce out of skin—Molly thought—when she saw how eager he was to go to Hogwarts to see Harry. Molly was glad that her son got such a thrill out of spending time with Harry. Molly knew Harry's life must be incredibly lonely and the poor dear really needed to have more children his age to play. Unfortunately Molly understood only too well the kind of danger Harry was under. At least by bringing Ron to Hogwarts Molly could give Harry some semblance of a normal childhood. Personally Molly did wonder why it had taken Albus so long to invite her children to meet Harry. In her opinion they should have met years ago.

"Now Ron," she said as held the floo powder that would transport them from the Burrow to the Headmaster's office, "I trust you remember your promise?"

Ron looked around the kitchen that was empty besides them and he nodded. "I'm not to talk about Harry to anyone. I will just say I played with some kids my age if Ginny asks any questions."

"That's good." Molly smiled and ruffled Ron's hair gently. "You're growing up to be a fine boy."

Ron wrinkled his nose, but otherwise didn't protest. She knew he was too excited by the idea of seeing Harry again to protest about her treating him like a child. As much as Ron would like to grow up as fast he could, he was still a child and no matter how old he was, he was always going to be her baby boy.

"Let's go." Molly's smile turned indulgent when Ron tugged on the sleeve of her robes. It was nice that Ron had made such a good friend outside of the family. Ron might not be a shy child, but Molly had worried a bit about his social development when he didn't really seem to get along with other wizarding children. Now she knew it wasn't Ron, maybe it was those other children and Ron simply had good taste. After all, he was friends with such a lovely boy in Harry. Sweet, sweet child, Molly thought, and he deserved so much more than what he'd gotten.

Life, she pondered, wasn't very fair.

She grabbed Ron's hand and threw the floo powder into the fireplace. "Headmaster's office!"

-

Ron rolled onto his stomach after they'd just finished a game of chess that Ron had won, though this time Harry had given him a bit of a challenge. Ron grinned up at the bright sky that the Great Hall was showing. It was a beautiful reflection of what it must be like outside. Ron wondered if they could go outside, but he didn't want to ask and be refused. After all, his Mum had always taught him not to go asking for things. It wasn't good to be beggars, even when… Ron frowned and tried to shake that thought away. That kind of thought made him so _so_ very—he shut that thought out and took a deep breath.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nope." Ron turned his head and he could see Harry lying on his back. "I like it here."

"I do too."

Ron glanced back up at the enchanted ceiling. "I wish I could stay."

"Wouldn't you miss your family?"

Ron shrugged. "I guess." Ron was pretty sure he wouldn't really miss his family all that much, well, a little. But sometimes he just wanted his own space, wanted to be able to do things on his own without being compared to other people all the time. He was glad he was the only Weasley Harry really knew. Harry couldn't compare him to his brothers and find him lacking. Ron hoped Harry never got to know his family really well. Ron knew he was being… selfish, something Mum had told him was bad, but Ron just wanted something to be just _his_ for once. And, for once, he didn't have to share.

-

Harry was exhausted after Ron left. Ron was a nice boy to play with and Harry certainly liked him a lot, but Ron sometimes was a bit much for Harry. Harry simply wasn't used to doing all that Ron wanted to do with him. Harry also was beginning to think that maybe Ron wasn't as happy of a boy as he seemed to. That didn't really make much sense to Harry when he thought really hard about it. Ron should be happy. He had a lovely family and it was obvious that his mother loved him an awful lot and yet Harry sometimes was very sure Ron wasn't as happy as he should be.

"Remy?" Harry said softly, not really wanting to bother Remus too badly. Remus' eyes shifted from his book to Harry and Remus lifted his eyebrow. "Why are people sad?"

"Why do you ask?" Remus put his book down and Harry wiggled around a bit uncomfortably underneath Remus' intense gaze.

"Well, um, just a question."

"Are you unhappy?"

Harry shook his head quickly. "No, no, not at all."

"Any particular reason you asked this then?"

Harry wanted to squirm, but he knew that would only lead to Remus asking him more questions that he would rather not answer. "Just curious."

Remus cleared his throat and picked up his book again. "You know you can come to me for anything, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Good." Remus opened his book and gestured for Harry to get on the oversized chair and make himself comfortable too. Harry leaned his head against Remus' arm and sighed. How could Ron not miss his family?

That Harry didn't understand at all.

**TBC**

Author's Note: Thanks so much for all that have supported me. I will be starting a new series that is an AU but magical one. It's not that radically new of a concept but I don't think it's overly done at all.


	9. Time for Change

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Nine  
_Time for Change_

Next year was the year everything would change, at least that is what Remus told him. Harry didn't know if he really wanted change to happen at all, much less everything to be turned upside down. He quite liked his life the way it was and he didn't see the need to have it altered. Unfortunately, not only was Remus against things staying the same, but so were Albus and Minerva. Harry scowled and urged his broom up so high that it began to shake violently against the built-in safeguards. He had no choice but to let the broom coast to a lower elevation. Why did he have to attend Hogwarts like the others?

Albus had always told him he was special…

_Harry knew he was different because some people could see him and others couldn't. He'd never really remembered to ask Albus about that until today, though. "Why don't I go to school like them?" Harry gestured to the students that Albus could watch through a special globe that Albus usually kept underneath his desk. "Why don't I learn magic like they do?" _

_Albus peered at Harry and smiled. "Because you're very special, my boy." _

"_Why am I special?" _

"_Because you are." _

_Harry paused. "Do I have to be special?"_

"_You don't choose if you are special," Albus explained to him gently. "It is something you are or aren't and you are. It is a good thing and you'll realize this sooner or later. And besides… you love to have Remus teaching you, right? If you were like the other students you wouldn't have Remus as a teacher anymore."_

That settled things in Harry's mind most definitely. He didn't want to lose Remus as his teacher. Harry couldn't even imagine what it would be like to not to spend most of the day with Remus. That would be… so strange.

So weird and so awful.

-

Ron missed Harry when he wasn't around more than he missed any of his brothers. Ron knew it was because Harry understood him better and Ron just liked Harry more. Ron buried his head into his pillow. He wished he could see Harry more, but Mum kept telling him not to impose on Harry too much. After all, he was already going over to Hogwarts three times a week and that was an awful lot of time to be spending at someone else's home, no matter if they were best friends or not.

Ron sighed and closed his eyes. In his dreams, he would be with Harry again soon.

-

"_Aren't you excited about Hogwarts?" Ron asked and he was literally bouncing even though he wasn't walking. _

_Harry shrugged, knowing it was better not to answer than to give a negative. _

"_Well?" Ron nudged him. "Won't it be great when we can be with each other all the time? I won't have to go home when school's in session and—"_

"_Won't you miss home?" Harry inquired. _

_Ron paused and then shook his head. "I miss being away from you more." _

_For some reason that answer wasn't something Harry was looking for, but not something that was necessarily bad. It made Harry feel off-center, off-balance and he didn't really know how to deal with that. It stunned him that he was that important to Ron. Because Ron wasn't Albus, Minerva, Remus, or even Yenty. How could he be so important to Ron, like that? _

_They weren't family…_

_-_

"_Wow!" Ron exclaimed, a giant smile on his face. "You're such a good flier!" _

_Harry felt his cheeks getting warmer. He knew other shad told him he was good, but it was different to hear it from Ron for some reason. "Thanks."_

"_Maybe you can teach me!" Ron ran over to where he'd landed the broom. "My brothers always say I'm too young, but I know it's just because they don't want me to use their broom. They're afraid I'll ruin it or something. I'm not _that_ clumsy!" Ron tilted his head toward Harry. "Right?" _

"_Yeah," Harry said softly. He smiled and handed over the broom to Ron. "It's not really that hard. All you have to do is know where you want to go and lean your body slightly in that direction, careful not to do too much or you'll get off-balance." Harry paused. "Other than that I'm really not sure how to explain it." _

_Ron was looking at him hard, really paying attention to him and that made Harry feel good. Ron nodded and got on the broom and Harry watched Ron try his best with trepidation when Ron looked like he was going to fall and happiness when Ron looked like he was enjoying himself._

_Harry was glad he knew someone like Ron._

_-_

"What's wrong, Harry?"

Harry looked away from the window where he was watching some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were having a flying lesson with Madam Hooch. In an hour or so, the Gryffindors and Slytherins would be out. Harry knew a lot about the different houses because he'd read _Hogwarts, A History, _but he'd never really thought about which house he would end up in. Harry knew in the back of his mind that he'd probably be going to Hogwarts like the older people, but he'd thought that was long, long way off. Not something he had to worry about any time soon, but time—it seemed—had flown by.

"What house do you think I'll be in?" Harry asked, turning around to Remus. "Where do you think the sorting hat will put me? Because I like to think I'm loyal, clever, brave, and ambitious, but I don't know what I'm more… _like_."

"Where to do you want to go?"

Harry fidgeted and looked down at the floor. "I don't know."

"Any of them would be a good fit."

Harry looked up at Remus. "It wouldn't matter where I went?"

Remus shook his head. "Not at all."

Harry smiled a bit and hugged Remus tightly around the waist. "I don't want things to change."

"But they must."

"Why?"

"Because," Remus began, holding Harry close to him, "if things were static, then life would cease to be the amazing experience that it is. You learn so much from whatever direction you go and even though the road might not be smooth, or easy, you would not be given your path unless you are able to bear it."

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, knowing exactly why Remus was saying this. He got that Remus didn't want to be a werewolf, but he had to live with it and adjust to it the best that he could. He didn't let that get him down and Harry shouldn't let this one small change upset him either, especially considering what Remus had been through!

"I'm sorry too," Remus said softly back and this time Harry didn't know why he said what he said.

-

The days seemed to speed on by some days and slow down to a crawl on others and Harry didn't mind how much closer to change he was moving through, not really. He heard Remus' words in his head and he had other words as well and it was okay. He might not like the change, but he would deal with it, adjust to it, and make the best of it. After all, what choice did he have?

-

Minerva was sitting in the Headmaster's office waiting for Albus to finish whatever meeting he had at the Ministry. She tapped her fingers against his desk impatiently. Why couldn't' he have told her to come later if he was going to be this late? Really, she did have quite a lot of work to do. True summer had just begun and it wasn't like she really needed to look through the new student's list yet, but she liked being ready for any changes and besides, this was a waste of her time to just sit here and do nothing.

Of course, when Minerva got up to leave, Albus emerged from the floo with an apologetic smile on his face. "I am so sorry, my dear," he said. He waved his wand and a tray of tea and biscuits appeared on his desk in front of her. "The meeting with Fudge went on a lot longer than I expected."

"As it usually does," she said dryly. "He has only gotten worse."

"Sadly yes." Albus sighed and sat down on the opposite side of his desk. "Now that you are here, we need to discuss Harry and his upcoming entrance into Hogwarts."

"The Fidelius Charm," she said. "We cannot maintain that spell while he attends Hogwarts. We would have to enable all students to see him and professors and if visitors ever come, say during a Quidditch match, and we won't know who is coming, then it would be strange when others don't see him. I don't really know what to do. I don't even want to think about canceling the spell. It is… and has been a great protection for him."

"Your concerns are something I've thought about for the last year," Albus said. "There is no easy way to keep the spell, keep the protection and have Harry attend Hogwarts. The only solution… is something neither of us would want to do, but I'm afraid that we have no choice. We will have to end the spell and just hope that nothing terrible happens to him. The only good thing is that Voldemort," he said and that caused Minerva to flinch, "hasn't appeared at all and things are fairly safe for now."

"And when they aren't?"

"Then we will have to decide what to do then."

"But—"

"Maybe… he will never come back."

Minerva looked away from Albus. "If you believed that you never would have placed Harry under the Fidelius Charm to begin with."

Albus sighed and when Minerva turned back to look at him, for once she saw that he looked his age. He looked tired. Minerva almost wanted to take back her words—because Albus had to be as worried as she was about Harry—but even if she did that wouldn't change the situation that they were in.

"What else can we do? Keep him hidden for the rest of his life?"

"He isn't against it," Minerva whispered. "Hasn't he approached you about why he has to attend Hogwarts? He… doesn't seem to like the idea of his life situation changing."

Albus nodded slowly. "Yes, he has mentioned something like that to me."

"And…?"

"You know we cannot let that happen, we've already done him a lot of harm by keeping him so isolated. He knows of the world only through books and through our interactions with him, but you and I and Remus are nothing like some other people out there in the world and I am afraid… we've kept him too innocent."

Minerva wrinkled her forehead as she thought, finally frowning. "We can't seem to win."

"No."

"We did the best we could," she said, trying to sound sure of herself, but she wasn't. Minerva had often had these same doubts herself about the way they were bringing up Harry. Harry was just _too_ good, what happened when the other children took advantage of him? Minerva didn't even want to think about that.

"It might not be enough, but we can't go back and undo the past," Albus said. "We can only look to the future and hope that we can be better than what we have been for him."

"And if we fail?"

"We won't." The years seemed to disappear from Albus' face when he said those words. Albus smiled and reached out to take her hand and squeeze it lightly. "We don't have a choice but to succeed."

**TBC**

Author's Note: Next chapter is when Harry will enter Hogwarts as a first year and I wanted to take in your opinions for what house Harry should be in and why. Please leave a review with your reason, thanks.


	10. Who You Are

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Ten  
_Who You Are_

Harry knew about the story of why he was at Hogwarts with Albus and Minerva and Remus and why they weren't his blood family, but his family despite that lack. His parents had died when he was a baby and Albus and Minerva had adopted him and then of course, Remus had been invited to Hogwarts to be his special tutor. So he didn't understand why the three of them were sitting in front of him, looking very unlike themselves—Minerva's lips were pressed together, Remus was fidgeting with his hands, and Albus' eyes were dull—and telling him they needed to tell him the truth about his parents.

"Harry," Albus began in a tired voice, "you know your parents are dead, but not the reason they are gone…" Minerva's lips were like a thin line and Harry didn't think she could hold her mouth shut anymore without making her lips disappear. "They were killed by Voldemort." Minerva visibly flinched and Harry blinked, his gaze shifting between them before settling on Albus. "And when he tried to kill you with the Killing Curse, it gave you that unusual scar on your forehead."

Harry automatically reached up and touched the scar on his forehead. He had just thought it was something he'd gotten when he was a baby when he'd been reckless. He had never thought it came from… something like that. A curse scar. But while those were rare, his was impossible. "Then why am I here?" Harry asked. "If it was the Killing Curse, it should have killed me."

"Love," Albus said firmly, "your parents loved you so much that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for you and I believe that this pure love a parent has for a child is what protected you from the Unforgivable."

"But that's impossible," Harry said. "Nothing can reflect an Unforgivable, that's why they're _unforgivable._"

"But somehow you did," Albus said, leaning forward and smiling a bit. "I have always told you, you were special and that is why. You are the only one who has survived that particular curse."

Harry didn't know if he really wanted to believe what Albus was telling him, but the fact neither Minerva nor Remus were saying anything and that they were here told him that what Albus was telling him was very important and true. Besides, Albus wouldn't lie to him. Harry took a deep breath, still not wanting to believe he was special because of that. But whatever, that wasn't important.

"To the outside world," Albus continued, "you are known as the _Boy Who Lived_ and you are famous because of that, like Nicholas Flamel is for the Philosopher's Stone."

Harry stared at Albus, not quite knowing how to react to that kind comparison. It seemed ludicrous to him when Flamel had invented the extraordinary, but then he supposed not anyone could survive a Killing Curse. Still it was a rather silly reason to be famous, especially when it wasn't him, it was his parents. "But that's stupid," he said and felt all three of them look at him. "I didn't do anything special to deserve it. That was my… parents."

It felt weird now to know something like this about his parents. They had never been around and Harry had never really felt their presence in his life. He just knew he had to have parents or else he wouldn't exist. But they weren't really his family like Albus, Minerva, and Remus were. They were just something in the past and yet suddenly they were very present and Harry didn't quite know how to deal with it.

"It's okay to cry," Minerva whispered. "I can't imagine what it would be like to have lost your parents at such a young age."

Harry didn't feel like crying, he didn't. It wasn't like he knew his parents—as anything more than his parents—he didn't _know_ them. It was just… maybe he did feel something now, knowing they just didn't die by accident. They died protecting him. They loved him, like Remus and Minerva and Albus did. That was something and Harry felt like he should want to cry and yet he couldn't.

"Your parents would have been very proud of you," Remus declared. "I know I am."

Harry smiled a little, knowing that Remus didn't usually go saying things like this unless he truly meant them. Of course, Harry knew that Remus felt that way—he could feel it in the way Remus acted around him when he did a good job—but it was still nice to be told that. Somehow saying it in actual words made it seem more real, even when Harry knew it was there.

Albus cleared his throat and Harry shifted his attention back to him, sitting up straighter knowing that Albus was about to get to the real point of why _this_ was happening. "I should have told you this earlier, but I didn't want you to grow up with the burden of people's belief that you are a savior. But that is what they believe, that you are a hero and you will be treated differently because of what happened when you were a baby."

Harry stared at Albus and opened his mouth to speak, yet no words came out. "The students will look to you as an example, you will be important regardless that it happened years ago because of who Voldemort was." Albus glanced over at Remus. "I trust you know about that part of history."

Yes, Harry knew about Voldemort's regime and how bad the outlook was for the wizarding world until his unexpected demise. Of course, Harry had never thought to connect the Potters to him… because… because… _oh Merlin!_

"I'm Harry Potter," he said slowly, wondering why he hadn't thought about that when Albus had first told him he had survived the Killing Curse. Harry guessed he was just too overtaken by that bit of information to connect the story he had heard about the Potter boy and the strange circumstances surrounding Voldemort's death, how a baby had survived the most unforgivable of Unforgivables. "I am _that _Harry Potter." He looked at Albus, Minerva, and Remus. "Aren't I?"

They all nodded slowly and it suddenly hit Harry just how famous he was because he had read about him in a lot of history books. Harry knew if he hadn't already been sitting, he would have fallen. He felt numb and he didn't know what to do. It was like he didn't know who he was anymore.

Albus took a deep breath and said, "We wanted you to have a normal childhood and we're sorry… if we've hurt you by keeping this a secret."

Harry wanted to say that it was okay, but he couldn't… because it wasn't.

-

Minerva still remembered the long ago conversation she and Albus had had when Harry had first started asking questions about who he was. Albus had thought it was wise not let a young Harry know too much about the past, not wanting to burden him, and Minerva had agreed. After all, a young boy didn't need to know that his parents had been murdered because of a prophecy that might not have even come true. Looking back though, maybe they should have told him before today and they still hadn't told him everything yet. Minerva looked at Remus and then at the cups of tea that were growing cold between them. Merlin help Albus, she thought, he was still in there with Harry and doing his best to explain why they had done what they had done.

"Do you think what we did was right?" Minerva asked.

Remus shrugged. "Doesn't matter if we think it's right if he thinks it's wrong."

"Remus…"

"I think we did the best we could by keeping that a secret. It would have only given him a weight on his shoulders that he didn't need at that age, but it also kept him far too innocent of the world and I believe we should have told him much sooner than we did. It's only a week before he starts Hogwarts and we've thrown far too much at him in such a small amount of time."

Minerva took her cup of tea, trying to keep her hand steady, as she drank the lukewarm liquid, hoping that everything would be okay.

-

It was in time like these that Albus really wished that the burden of decision did not rest on his back, but he had made the choice to keep Harry sheltered from the truth—to the degree that Harry hadn't even known he was _Harry Potter_. He didn't regret it, he just wish there had been a way to allow Harry to be a child and yet also not keep him from knowing the destiny Voldemort had set into action when he had decided to interpret the prophecy to regard the Potters… in particular, Harry Potter.

"There is more, of course," Albus began. "Do you know why Voldemort chose to go to Godric's Hollow?"

Harry shook his head. "It just said… the books that is, the history I've read, is that there was speculation it was because the Potters were such staunch supporters of the Light and were so strong in magic, that's why he targeted them."

"In part, that was the reason he chose them, but the reason he even thought of them was because of a prophecy that told him that there would be a child born to parents who had thrice defied him who would defeat him if he did not defeat that child," Albus said. "There was another family and another boy who could have fit the prophecy, but Voldemort chose your family because of how strong your mother and father were and the possibility that you would be just as strong and when he marked you with that," Albus touched Harry's scar before continuing, "he limited the prophecy to mean only you and him."

"And—"

"And because of that, I was the only one who could have destroyed him," Harry finished. "I understand. You don't have to say anything more. I mean, it's a nice thought and everything, but I was just a baby. You even think it was my… parents that did the extraordinary. I'm nothing special."

"You might not think you are, but others will and of course, I do as well, not for that reason, but because I have seen you grow up to be a thoughtful, intelligent, and caring young man," Albus said. "And you need to know how other will look at you and react to you so you won't be surprise when it happens. They will expect great things out of you."

"But what if I only want to be ordinary?" Harry's voice sounded so hopeful, so young that Albus wished that he wasn't about to start his first year at Hogwarts, if only they could go back in time and slow the clock, but they couldn't.

"Then, if that is what you want to be, then be ordinary," Albus said, even though in his heart he wanted Harry to be as extraordinary as possible and in his mind, he didn't think Harry could be anything except someone special.

-

"I don't want to be different," Harry said. Harry was sitting on Remus' lap, leaning against him like he often did when he was a younger boy and even nowadays when he needed to be comforted. "I just want to be normal."

"Everyone wants to be normal, to fit in," Remus whispered and swallowed hard. "But…"

"But?" Harry asked.

"But we can't always do that."

Harry tightened his grip on Remus' robes. "I wish…"

"What?"

"I wish that—I don't know." Harry sighed and slumped more against Remus. "I don't know anything anymore. I don't even know who I am. Am I just Harry? Like I've always been or am I this Harry Potter boy who I've read so much about and… and… don't know at all?"

"You are Harry," Remus declared firmly. "It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what house you're sorted into, how others will treat you, as long as you remain true to yourself, you will know who you are."

"And if I don't?"

"I hope that doesn't ever happen." Remus hugged Harry close to him and kissed his cheek. "And I hope that you will be happy and that you will pursue happiness despite anything that everyone expects from you. Just be true to yourself and you can't go wrong. You are a brilliant, caring, and perceptive young man. I trust that you will do what is right."

"I hope," Harry whispered. "I hope so."

**TBC**

Author's Note: Uh yeah, the next chapter will be the sorting. I just needed to get this out of the way. There's also a forum on that I've started for ARL on fanfiction(dot)net. The link is located in my author's profile. Please keep reviewing, it means a lot to me!


	11. The Sorting

**A Rewritten Life**

by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Eleven

_The Sorting_

Ron was waiting at Platform 9 ¾ for Harry to arrive so that they could board the Hogwarts Express together. There were a lot of students, upper years and first years milling around and Ron had the feeling that Harry wouldn't feel comfortable at all with these many people around. Ron had already waved his older brothers off, telling them that he'd get on the train later on—that he was waiting for someone. The twins had given him odd looks, but hadn't bothered to wait on him. They knew he wouldn't miss the train. They knew how excited he was to finally be going to Hogwarts. After all, they had heard their Mum complain about how little Ronniekins needed to get some sleep or else he'd be exhausted tomorrow. Ron made a face. He wasn't a little boy anymore. He didn't need to go to bed when Ginny did. She was the baby! Not him!

"Ron?"

Ron knew that voice anywhere. It was Harry. He had finally come. Ron turned around and gave Harry a huge hug. "I thought you'd never get here!"

Harry smiled sheepishly. "It took longer to get some of my school supplies than Remus thought."

"Oh, what did you get for a familiar?" Ron asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his rat. "This is mine. Pathetic, isn't it? Got it from Percy, it was his rat, Scabbers. All my stuff is old, but…"

"It's okay," Harry said. "New doesn't make it better."

Ron suddenly was fiercely glad that Harry was his friend, something that always happened whenever he was around Harry. Harry understood that just because he was poor, that didn't mean he was anything less. After all, he came from good wizarding stock. It wasn't his fault that his family was poor.

"So what did you get for your familiar?" Ron asked.

Harry pulled out a tiny white kitten out from underneath his school robes. "This is Hedwig."

Ron reached out to pet Hedwig, but had to stop when Scabbers made a giant squeak and ran up his arm, Ron had to stop before he could tough the little kitten. "She's very pretty." Ron scowled and grabbed Scabbers before he could run off and placed the rat into his pocket. "I wish I could have gotten a cat like yours, or even an owl."

"I think your rat is nice," Harry said, smiling still. "Hmm…" He looked at the train. "Maybe we should get on." He turned his head and Ron watched his eyes widened as he saw how many people were on the platform, chatting with their friends and catching up on what happened during the summer. "I don't want to miss the train."

"Neither do I!" 

Ron grabbed Harry's hand and started tugging him forward. Harry shook his head and pointed at the trolley with his stuff on it. Ron's stuff had already been packed on board by the twins and Ron ran back and started pushing Harry's trolley along, ignoring Harry's protests that he could do it himself. Ron rolled his eyes, not wanting to say that Harry was still a rather small boy, because he didn't want to make Harry feel bad. That was the last thing Ron ever wanted to do, make Harry feel bad.

-

Hermione was _so_ happy to be going to Hogwarts. When she had heard she was a witch, she had initially had her doubts about magic, but after seeing all the incredible sights at Diagon Alley and the fact that she had tested out a few of the beginner's spells—she now believed. It would a wonderful opportunity and it didn't bother her in the slightest that she wouldn't have to return to her old school. She'd been seen as a freak there, too bookish and nerdy, and maybe at Hogwarts she could finally fit in.

Hermione clutched her new wand—vine wood with dragon heartstring core—close to her chest and marched down the train in her school robes, looking for a cabin where she might blend in and find some friends who would truly appreciate her for herself.

-

Neville was on his knees in the aisle, looking furiously for his toad, Trevor. Where had Trevor gone? He had just been there a minute ago. But then someone had bumped into Neville and he had dropped Trevor and… and now his toad was gone. Neville bit his bottom lip so that it didn't tremble because if it did, he'd probably cry. He was a big boy, just like Gran said and he wasn't going to cry because he'd lost his toad. He was going to find Trevor, even if it took forever.

What had Gran said again? Neville scrunched his face up, trying to remember, and broke out into a tiny smile when he did. She had said to him right before he'd gotten on the train: _Don't worry about what others think, just worry about what you think. _

-

Draco smoothed out his robes, knowing that he would cut a good figure in them because his mother had made sure to specially alter his robes so they would hang just the right way. Draco neatly ran his finger through his carefully slicked back blond hair, making sure everything was in place. He didn't want to make a bad impression, even if they were only students. First impressions were very important and he intended to be friends with all the right people. Such links were vital to his future as his father always said.

Draco stepped out of his cabin, his two new friends—really the sons of friends of his father—Crabbe and Goyle followed him. Draco strolled down to make his inspection of the first years and to find one very special boy who his father had said to become friends with at any cost. Draco didn't plan on letting his father down.

-

Ron had found them an empty cabin and Harry was glad because there were just so many people around and he found it strange when people actually saw him. He was too used to being ignored by the crowd, probably because of the Fidelius Charm. He wished he still had the charm in place. It felt weird not to have it on. He felt like he was too exposed and he didn't like that.

"So what do we have here?" said a boy with a sharp voice and very blond hair as he stood at the entrance. "A Weasley by the looks of it. Red hair and frayed robes."

Harry didn't really quite know what to make out of the blond boy. He was not at all like Ron and Ron was really the only person Harry knew well that was his age. Harry opened his mouth to say something that Minerva had always told him—_if you can't say something nice, better to not say anything at all—_but he didn't get the chance when Ron stood and said, "At least I'm not a Malfoy."

Harry closed his mouth, not really knowing what to say now because what Ron had said wasn't very nice either. Harry stared back and forth at Ron and… the blond boy—Malfoy—trying to decide what to do.

"Um…" Harry got up and placed himself between Ron and Malfoy. "I'm Harry Potter…" He held out his hand to Malfoy. "This is Ron Weasley."

Ron grabbed Harry by the shoulder and hissed in his ear, "What do you think you're doing? That's _Malfoy_, and his father's a Death Eater!"

"You know if you're attempting to be sly about your bit of information to Harry," said Malfoy, "you're far too obvious." Malfoy extended his hand and reached for Harry's. "I'm Draco and don't believe everything Weasley tells you."

Harry felt trapped and he didn't like this feeling at all. He knew if he acknowledged Draco, then Ron would get mad at him and he didn't want that. At the same time, Harry didn't want to be rude to Draco either. Harry just didn't know what to do when—

A bush-haired girl burst into the cabin followed by a slightly chubby, brown-headed boy. "Have you seen Trevor?" the girl asked in a very proper tone. "It's Neville's toad. He's lost it. And oh, I'm Hermione Granger by the way." Hermione smiled at both of them and Harry smiled back gratefully, thinking that he was lucky she had come along. "This is Neville Longbottom."

"Nice to meet you both," Harry said kindly. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter," Hermione said slowly, her eyes widening. "How interesting… I've read about you in _Hogwarts, a History._"

Harry grimaced inwardly, but fought not to show it outwardly. "Um… yeah."

"You're the Boy Who Lived," Neville whispered, his voice so soft that Harry almost didn't hear.

Harry couldn't stop himself from flinching this time, not really liking the fact that people had read about him, knew about him before really getting to know him. He almost wanted to ask them how they would like it if someone read about them in a book and said something about them like it was the truth, even when it was something that had happened to them when they were a baby and hadn't even known themselves? But that wouldn't be very nice and Harry didn't want to be mean.

"Well," Hermione said, catching Harry's eyes, "I don't think your toad is here, Neville. I think we'll have to go somewhere else." She turned around and made her way out. "It was nice meeting you."

Neville followed after her, muttering the same thing and they disappeared, leaving Harry alone with just Draco and Ron and Harry glanced at the two of them, hoping they weren't going to start back up where they'd ended before the interruption. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Harry Potter," Draco said, bowing regally before departing, leaving Harry standing there with just Ron behind him, puzzled as to why things had turned out all right in the end when he'd been expecting an explosion of some sort.

Life was just odd and unpredictable.

-

The fact that Ron had seen Harry being polite to Malfoy of all people made him seethe inside, but he buried it inside of him. Didn't Harry understand that Malfoy was not the type of boy Harry should be hanging around with when he was the _Boy Who Lived?_ Ron was just watching out for him, or else people would start thinking mean things about Harry and Ron didn't want that. Ron wanted everyone to know Harry was the best friend a person could have.

So Ron smiled when Harry asked if he was all right and said, "I'm good. So what do you want off the trolley?"

-

Hermione had heard whispers throughout the entire train, speculations about the Boy Who Lived, but that no one had really caught a glimpse of him yet. They all wondered if he really had _that scar_ on his forehead and Hermione just rolled her eyes. It was in a book, it was in _Hogwarts, a History, _and if you couldn't trust a text like that then what could you trust?

Still she sort of understood their curiosity, since she had gotten the bug herself. But seeing him recoil the way he had when Neville had called him the _Boy Who Lived_, she felt a surging sympathy for what he was going to go through his year and probably the rest of his years at Hogwarts.

It wasn't easy, she supposed, to be famous from the time you were a baby.

-

By the time they had arrived at Hogwarts, Harry was stressed out. Once they had left the safety of the cabin and boarded the boats, everyone seemed to know that he was the Boy Who Lived and Harry just wished he could fade underneath obscurity one more time. Everyone, when they met him, wanted to see his scar and Harry was glad that Ron was there to push them away.

Harry couldn't help but smile when he saw Minerva, or as she had told him earlier today, Professor McGonagall. He carefully schooled his expression until he thought it was bland and stood near in the middle of the group, waiting to hear what she'd say.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Minerva said, nodding at them. "If you will please gather close so that I may tell those that do not know what will be happening." The first years pushed closer to her and Harry found himself near the front. "Shortly you will be sorted into your house, and as many of you might know, there are four houses: Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now if you will follow after me, I will take you into the Great Hall."

Minerva turned around and tapped her wand on the door and the doors to the Great Hall sprang open. She marched down the aisle between two large tables, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Harry knew from the color of the flags that were hanging above their tables. When they reached the front, Harry saw an old hat perched on a stool. Harry was a bit taken back when the hat floated up and started singing:

"_Greetings, I am the sorting hat_

_and you can't do anything about that_

_So come closer and let me choose_

_Where best to place you_

_Would like Gryffindor and their valor_

_But don't forget their reckless action!_

_Would you like Slytherin and their thick skin_

_But don't forget their selflish inclination!_

_Or maybe Hufflepuff and being humble enough?_

_But you can't forget their lack of conviction!_

_Or maybe Ravenclaw and their magical laws?_

_But you can't forget their lack of intuition!_

_So what house to place you _

_Come up, come up and find out what I will choose!"_

Minerva cleared her throat out and called out the first name, "Abbott, Hannah!"

A blond girl stepped up and sat down on the chair, the hat sitting on her head for a bit before it called out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl leapt off the chair and ran to her house, where her new housemates cheered her on. Harry watched her, wondering what it would be like for him, if anyone would be happy to welcome him to their house for him and not for him fame.

Other boys and girls came, but Harry didn't really pay much attention to them until Hermione Granger's name was called. The sorting seemed to take ages, even if it was only a minute or two, before it said, "RAVENCLAW!" Neville Longbottom went to Hufflepuff, the sorting hat only took a brief moment to decide and when it came to be Draco Malfoy's turn, it didn't even touch Draco's head before it was shouting, "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry froze, though, when it was his turn to go up and get sorted. Minerva had to come forward and gently pull him to the stool, where he sat down with great trepidation. Where did he belong?

_Well, well, I finally get to meet Harry Potter, _said the sorting hat. _What a mind you've got, young man! Very much like your mother, would have placed her in Ravenclaw, but she was far too brave for that house. You like fair play, a very Hufflepuff trait, and you would rather hide and blend with your surroundings, quite Slytherin. But you won't sit in the background when something goes wrong like Hufflepuffs will, being helpless, and you don't burn with a need to manipulate others. Neither of those houses fit you, though in some ways Slytherin might help you with what you need to do as the _Boy Who Lived_, so where to place you, young man? _

Harry wondered if every student that had been sorted had gone through an analysis like this and he felt the sorting hat chuckle. _Only those who are hard to place get a spiel like this. Most of them are so one way or the other it's easy to place them. Or they know exactly where they want to be and there's no reason not to place them there. So tell me, young man, if you could go to any house, which house would you like to be?_

"I don't care," Harry whispered.

_You'll leave it up to me, then? Good choice, smart choice. I know you what fits you better than you know yourself. You aren't reckless and though you are a lot like your mother, you aren't nearly as courageous as she was. While you have her brains, you don't love knowledge for knowledge, you love how it can be used, which is highly practical and the best place for you, the house which will help shape you into who you need to be is… "_GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry got up, his legs a little unsteady when he heard the roar that came from Gryffindor House. He could recognize Ron's brothers, cheering loudly for him, and he thought that maybe Ron had told them a bit about him, even if he wasn't supposed to. What pleased him the most was the smile that cracked Minerva's stern expression and how her eyes were gleaming like they did when she transformed into her animagus form.

Harry ran to the Gryffindor table and let his new housemates tuck him into their mist before turning his attention back to the sorting, where he waited for Ron to join him.

-

"Weasley, Ronald!" McGonagall called and Ron stepped forward, not hesitating now that Harry had gone to Gryffindor. Ron hadn't been absolutely sure that Harry would go to that house and he had been prepared to sacrifice family tradition to follow Harry into whatever house he ended up, but now he didn't have to and he was relieved.

Ron sat on the stool and just waited for the sorting hat to call out Gryffindor like it had for every other Weasley before him. _But you are not like every other Weasley,_ the sorting hat said. _You place Harry in front of your family and that's a very un-Weasley-like trait, for all that family is important to you. While you're reckless, you're also possessive and you'll do anything to get your way. Your skill at chess insinuates your cunning and you've always wanted to distinguish yourself from your family and where best to place you than… "_SLYTHERIN!"

But that's not possible, Ron wanted to scream at the sorting hat. Weasleys were always in Gryffindor! Ron didn't care that he was still sitting in the stool, he just locked eyes with Harry, hoping that Harry wouldn't hate him for… for being a filthy Slytherin, and Ron couldn't read Harry's expression at all, but he could see the shock on his brothers' faces.

How could a Weasley end up in Slytherin?

**TBC**

Author's Note: Please, please review and tell me what you think, but if you say you hate me and want to kill me, well try to keep that opinion to yourself because threats aren't very nice and I'm tired of getting the random threat. Uh yeah, you can discuss the sorting at the fanfiction(dot)net forum I've made for ARL with other readers. The link is located in my author's profile.


	12. House Distinctions

**A Rewritten Life**

by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Twelve

_House Distinctions_

Neville did not quite know what to do with himself when they'd been brought up to the room he'd share with two other Hufflepuff boys. He hadn't even known how to sort out which room he'd have, so he'd just settled for where the prefect had directed them. He had remembered hearing the two boys' names, but he couldn't remember what their names actually were. He wanted to ask and yet he was terrified of being thought an idiot because he had a poor memory. What had his Gran always said? That he had to get better about remembering stuff.

"Neville," said the dark blond, "what bed do you want? Bunk with me or the single?"

"Uh…" Neville began, "I don't care."

"Say Justin," the dark blond called to the other boy, who had light brown hair, "do you want the bunk or single?

"Single," Justin said, "if you don't mind."

"Naw," said the dark blond, already pushing his floating trunk to the bunk, "bunking's fine with me. So Neville, top or bottom?"

"Um… bottom," Neville said hesitantly.

"Great, leave's the top for me. I'm Zacharias Smith by the way," Zacharias said. "Don't remembering if anyone said it or not. You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, we're going to be great friends," Zacharias declared. "And we certainly aren't going to let people think that we Hufflepuffs are like what everyone thinks—that we're just nice nobodies. Got that?"

Neville didn't know how to react except to nod when he saw that was what Justin was doing. And when Neville went to sleep that night, in his bottom bunk, he hoped that his Gran wouldn't mind that he hadn't gotten sorted into Gryffindor, because he liked Justin and Zacharias and Hufflepuff House.

-

Harry didn't quite know what to do about the other two boys he shared with. He knew their names, Dean and Seamus, but he didn't really think he had much common with them. They were talking about some muggle sport called football, which Harry hadn't heard about, but it seems like Dean and Seamus knew a lot about it. Harry wanted to bring up Quidditch, which he knew about, but he didn't quite know how to go about approaching that subject. Harry opened his mouth and quickly shut it when Dean and Seamus turned over to look in his direction. Dean waved his hand, beckoning him to come over, and after a moment's indecision, Harry went over and sat on Dean's bed.

"So I know you're Harry Potter," Dean said, glancing over at Seamus, "but you're also our mate and I don't want things to be odd because of that."

"Yeah," Seamus added. There was a strange pause until Seamus said, "So who do you think will win the premiership this year?"

Harry glanced at them entirely bewildered and Seamus sighed. "You don't know much about football, do you?" Harry shook his head and Seamus said, "Well, it's a muggle sport…"

They spent the night talking about it and what teams Seamus and Dean particularly liked and by the time Harry had gone to sleep, he might not have felt right at home, but it was close and he was definitely comfortable. Still he wished that Ron was there.

-

Hermione had never made friends with anyone of her own age, but she thought for the first time that she might have a genuine friend in Padma Patil, the girl she'd be sharing the double room with. So far they had talked a lot about what they'd read in _Hogwarts, a History_ and what they expected the professors to do on the first day. So far everything was going well and Hermione had finally met someone as bookish as she was!

"So," Padma said, turning around onto her stomach, "what do you think of Harry Potter? I don't know what to make out of him, though he went to Gryffindor which was expected. After all, his parents were both Gryffindors."

"He seems shy, from what I've seen of him," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I didn't think that he would go to Gryffindor, to be honest. He seems more like a Hufflepuff or even a Ravenclaw."

"Well you don't have to be reckless and boisterous to be brave," Padma said. "My twin Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor and I can tell you that she can be very stubborn, but she's not exactly the typical Gryffindor. She doesn't rush into action, although she's always the first to step up to do something first." Padma smiled. "I know she's tougher than I am."

"But—"

"It's true," Padma said firmly. "She'll endure where I'll break, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, you know? Sometimes you have to give in a little and bend to see the options that are available. That's what her biggest weakness is. Once she sets her mind on something, she doesn't give up, no matter how hard it is, even if there's an easier way."

"I see…"

"I miss her." Padma sighed and rested her head on her pillow. "This is my first night without her."

Hermione didn't know what to say, except one thing, "I'm sorry."

Padma gave her a weird look and Hermione had to try hard to hide the cringe. She hated when other kids thought she was weak because she wasn't… she just cared too much what they thought when she shouldn't. At least that was what her parents had always told her when she had complained about not having any friends because she was such a freak. "Why do you say that?" Padma asked softly. "It's not your fault."

"Oh, I know, but—I..." It wasn't often Hermione got her tongue twisted, but she really didn't know what to say without stumbling further over her words.

"Wanted to show empathy?"

Hermione smiled because that was all she could do and she was relieved to see Padma flash her one back and move on to talk about the spells and charms that they would be expected to learn in their first year and of course… about Professor Snape. Supposedly, he was one tough marker and not at all fair, something that even Hermione had heard and was slightly worried about. It was nice—it made Hermione feel not so alone—that Padma also had the same concern.

-

Ron hated being reminded he had been sorted into Slytherin, but everything on the walls, the green and the snakes reminded him of where he was. Even his bed coverings were green, to his utter disgust. It didn't help either that he was obviously the odd boy out in the first year dorm room. He could still hear Malfoy's snide remark about how could a Weasley, so poor and low class, end up in Slytherin?

Though Slytherin first years might share one dorm room, they were a bit sectioned off and Ron really only had one Slytherin to worry about on his side of the room, the ambiguous Blaise Zabini. Ron really didn't know what to make out of the black boy, but he knew not to get on his bad side. While Malfoy might swagger around the room like he owned it, Zabini's mother was from an old and powerful family and the fact Zabini wasn't licking Malfoy's boots was enough of a reason for Ron to consider Zabini a potential ally.

What was that saying Percy was always saying? Ah yes, that your enemy's enemy was your friend. Well, Zabini might never be Ron's friend, but he'd settle for an ally in this den of snakes.

So Ron watched Zabini and plotted.

-

The first class of the day was Transfiguration and Harry had to try very hard not to crack a smile when his fellow Gryffindors kept whispering amongst themselves where their Head of House was. Harry also made sure not to stare too much at Minerva, but he could have sworn that she had winked at him when their eyes had inadvertently met. Harry glanced back when Seamus and Dean barreled into the classroom, quite late. They sat down right behind where he was sitting next to a girl who had introduced herself as Parvati. Harry vaguely remembered her from the sorting and was glad when she didn't try to talk to him too much. He didn't really know how to deal with girls, his only experience had been Ron's sister, Ginny and that had been years ago.

Harry bit his tongue when Minerva bounded from her desk and changed into her proper form and walked straight up to where Seamus and Dean were sitting. "I do hope you don't plan on being _this_ late to every class, young men."

Seamus grinned and shook his head and Dean ducked his head a bit, but otherwise he didn't seem perturbed either. If Harry had been them, he would have cringed a little from her sharp tone, even though he knew Minerva wasn't really as harsh as she sounded. But that didn't mean she wouldn't punish somebody who deserved it.

"Well, open your books to page one and we shall begin the art of Transfiguration!"

-

The day went by slowly for Harry since he already knew all the information that was already taught in Transfiguration and Charms. The only class that even potentially interested him was Potions because he had never really gotten to do much practical application of the theory he had studied because they needed a special room to brew them and it wasn't like Albus could go asking Snape to let a child that wasn't even a first year use the laboratory. Hence, Harry had brewed very little and was anxious to try his hand at it.

"Do you always stare in space like that?" Parvati asked.

Harry blinked and turned, seeing that the girl who he had sat next to in Transfiguration had sat next to him at the Gryffindor table. "Uh…"

"He does tend to do that," Seamus said from the other side of the table. "At least, from what I've seen so far and I don't know him that well."

Harry flushed and looked down at his plate. "Why do you do that?" Parvati asked, scooting closer to him. "You look like Padma."

"Padma?" Dean said. "Who's that?"

"My twin sister," Parvati replied. "You can't miss her, she looks exactly like me."

"Oh," Dean said, rubbing the back of his head. "I just thought I was seeing two…"

Parvati giggled. "You were!"

Dean rolled his eyes and Seamus laughed and Harry didn't know what to make out of all this, so he just listened and drifted when the conversation meandered in a direction that didn't require his participation.

Harry was jolted from his thoughts, though, when Parvati jabbed him in the side with her elbow. Harry glanced at her, confused until she pointed at Ron, who was standing a few feet away and staring at him. Vaguely Harry heard Parvati whisper fiercely into his ear: "What is he doing here? He shouldn't be here. He's a _Slytherin._"

Harry was too busy staring back at Ron to really process what she said until he heard the last bit. He had to turn around and he had to say, "He's still my friend."

Parvati looked slightly taken back, but other than that she didn't say anything else and Harry didn't know if he had offended her by disagreeing with her prejudices. He probably had, at least, that's how people usually reacted when someone disagreed with them from what he had read in the history texts.

"Can you meet me after dinner?" Ron asked quickly. "At the Quidditch pitch?"

"Why would he—" Seamus began.

"I will," Harry answered. "Of course, I will."

"But Harry," Parvati said, "he's…"

"Why does that matter?" Harry said. "Ron is my friend and he'll always be my friend. I don't care if he's a Slytherin or not. What does it matter if he is a Slytherin? What is so bad about them?"

Ron looked grateful and yet there was a bizarre expression on his face at the same time that Harry didn't understand at all. Harry wanted to ask Ron about it, but Ron quickly walked away to the Slytherin table before he could say anything else. Harry didn't know why Ron had left so quickly until he turned to the entrance and saw that the upper years were arriving, including Ron's older brothers.

So Harry looked down at the sandwich on his plate, ignoring the questions from Seamus, Dean, and Parvati and just ate, wondering what Ron wanted to speak to him about…

-

Harry was in the common room, still waiting for dinner to arrive, fidgeting when Parvati walked up to him and sat down on the sofa. "Harry," she said, her hands placed properly on her lap, "you really shouldn't see him after dinner."

"He's my friend."

"I know he is, but…" Parvati sighed. "I know he comes from a good family. I mean everyone knows the Weasley family supports the Light side, but the fact that _he_ got sorted into Slytherin isn't a good sign. You must know that Slytherin House produces the most dark wizards of all the houses..."

"It doesn't mean Ron's going to be a dark wizard!"

"All I'm saying is that he could be," Parvati said softly. "And…"

"Parvati," Harry said abruptly, causing her voice to trail off and for her eyes to meet his, "I'm still going to be his friend."

"But—"

Harry looked up at the clock that was signaling that it was time for dinner. "Now I'm going to dinner, are you coming with me?"

Harry heard Parvati follow behind him, but he wasn't sure if he really her say that she was just worried about him or if it was something his mind had made up to explain her behavior because he didn't want the beginnings of a friendship to already be finished.

-

Many thoughts had been spinning in Ron's head before he had asked to see Harry. He had worried that Harry wouldn't want to meet him, wouldn't want to be his friend because now he was a Slytherin, but he shuld have known that worry was silly. Of course, Harry would realize that the sorting hat had just been wrong and that he wasn't going to end up a dark wizard.

"We saw you at the Gryffindor table," Malfoy said, walking up with what Ron referred to as his two 'goons.' "You might not be a _real_ Slytherin, but you'll still make the house look bad if you associate with those mudblood lovers."

Ron ignored Malfoy and kept right to his destination—the Quidditch Pitch. However, Malfoy's voice only kept getting louder and louder and _more_ aggravating until Ron couldn't stand it and he whirled around and punched Malfoy in the face. He was about to say something when Crabbe and Goyle grabbed him and held him back until Professor Snape happened to stroll on by and sneered, "What do we have here? A Weasley… of course causing trouble. Detention _tonight_ Weasley with Filch. Do you understand? You are to report to him this minute." 

Ron glared at Snape. "My family was right. Slytherins are slimy bastards."

Snape's eye twitched. "Detention every night this week, Mr. Weasley for slurring your _own_ house. If I hear another word like that from you, you don't want to know what your punishment will be."

Ron wanted to say something else, but already his heart was sinking, knowing that he had now ruined his chance to meet with Harry at the Quidditch Pitch.

"Malfoy will escort you to Filch," Snape snapped and whirled around, marching to the dungeons. Ron watched him go, feeling such anger at Snape and himself.

How could he have been so foolish?

-

Harry waited and waited until he could no more and had to leave feeling a mixture of confusion and sadness—wondering why Ron hadn't come.

**TBC**

Author's Note: If you have a question you would like to ask (I know I'm terrible about replying to reviews), but this time I'll make an effort to respond to your inquiries.


	13. The Importance of Friendship

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Thirteen  
_The Importance of Friendship_

Ron never relaxed, not even when he was sleeping in the dormitories, because he always felt like he had to watch his back in case the slimy Slytherins did anything to him while he was temporary lax. He gritted his teeth, sitting on his bed, reading the potions textbook because the slimy git had made him _rewrite_ an essay that was perfectly passable as not being up to standards! That bastard, Ron thought, just like him to be so unfair!

Of course, it didn't help that he could hear Goyle and Crabbe playing in their part of the dorm room with such exuberance. They were like big versions of toddlers, so utterly juvenile that it got on Ron's nerves. He didn't understand why Malfoy would want to be friends with people like that. He certainly didn't. Thank Merlin they clung to Malfoy. Ron suspected he'd really lose his mind if they started crowding around him.

Ron stole a look at Zabini, who was lying on his bed with his eyes shut close. Zabini was no genius at potions, but he got adequate marks that didn't have Snape constantly on his back. Ron scowled and wondered why Crabbe and Goyle weren't doing punishment essays like he was. Of course, it had to be Malfoy. Malfoy had to be helping them.

Well sod this, Ron shoved his textbook away. He couldn't concentrate right. He was too angry and he was so tempted to start banging his head against the wall, but that wouldn't help anything. The only good thing was that at midnight he'd get to meet up with Harry at the Astronomy Tower and finally relax in the presence of the only one who really understood him.

-

Girls for the most part still made Harry quite nervous. Parvati was a different story though. Harry was used to her that he didn't feel overly anxious when they talked and if truth be told, Parvati was becoming the closest friend he had with the exception of Ron. And it wasn't because Parvati was like Ron. She was totally different. She didn't argue with him when she didn't like something, she just ignored him and that Harry found just as effective and just as puzzling. And moreover, Parvati liked to listen to him whenever he was talking about spell theories and what his theories were. Ron, especially when they were younger, had just thought he was a little loony.

At first Harry hadn't understood why Parvati liked it until she explained that he reminded her a little bit of her twin, Padma. The only thing of Parvati that reminded him a bit of Ron was how she would stand at the door with crossed arms whenever it was that time of the week to see Ron in the Astronomy Tower. But it was more of her intention than the way she acted. They both wanted the best for him and Harry was glad to have such two good friends like them, but sometimes they should realize that they didn't always know what was best for him!

"You're going to see him again, aren't you?" Parvati said in her typically annoyed stance. "You know he's a troublemaker. Look at how many detentions he's had! He goes to Filch multiple times a week!"

"You know Snape isn't fair," Harry protested. "You told me so yesterday when he only gave you a P when you said you knew that if you were a Slytherin you would have gotten an A."

Parvati pursed her lips together. "Well, he still acts up. Otherwise as a Slytherin he'd never get a detention. You know how prejudiced Snape is _for_ his own house."

"He's been my friend for ages and just because he's a Slytherin I won't give that friendship up," Harry declared. "You're just going to have to accept that and besides, prejudices aren't right. And I thought you said last week that Slytherins weren't necessarily bad."

"Except Ron hasn't proven otherwise with his numerous detentions," Parvati muttered.

"Parvati, just go to bed and I'll see you tomorrow."

Parvati didn't move.

"_Parvati_…"

Parvati sighed and said, "Oh all right. I still don't see why you have to be friends with him though. He doesn't treat you very nicely, I don't think. At least not from what you've told me about him."

"But he cares for me, and despite everything," Harry said softly, "that's really important."

-

Ron's hugs were always a bit of a force to reckon with, Harry thought, as he was engulfed in one of them that made his sides hurt just a little. But he never told Ron that they actually did hurt him because Ron would be terribly hurt, at least, Harry thought he would. Harry didn't think anyone could overreact more than Remus when he got hurt, but it was obvious that he was wrong. Ron took the cake.

"How're things at Gryffindor?" Ron asked. "The twins haven't pulled any pranks on you, have they? I told them to stay out of your way, but they never do listen…"

"How are you?" Harry asked bluntly, looking Ron directly in the eye. "I mean… you look tired."

"Snape keeps making me rewrite all my essays," Ron said, scowling. "It takes up a lot of time and if I don't do them a lot better the second time around, he'll make me rewrite it again! It's not like I don't try the first time. That greasy git just likes to make my life miserable."

"Well… I could read your essays if you want," Harry offered. "I don't mind."

Ron's eyes sparkled. "Would you really?"

"Yeah, I'm not brilliant or anything," Harry said, scratching the back of his head, "but I'm not that bad. Maybe I could help you, maybe I can't, but worth a try, right? Just bring it with you next time."

"You're the best!" Ron exclaimed. "So who do you think will take the Quidditch Cup this year? I'd bet anything that Gryffindor does. The twins, for all their joking around, they're good and serious beaters…"

-

Hermione knew that Padma was her closest friend in Ravenclaw, but Padma still perplexed her much more than books and classes ever would. Hermione sometimes found it frustrating when she couldn't predict what Padma would do next based upon her analysis and yet she found it fascinating at the same time. Padma, Hermione concluded, was confounding, but any difficulty was worthwhile. She finally had a _good_ friend.

"Hey!" Padma exclaimed, bouncing onto Hermione's bed. "It's the weekend, you're not going to just stay and read in your room all day, are you?"

Hermione looked down at the book she had checked out in the library about what muggleborns in the wizarding world. It wasn't as comprehensive as Hermione would have liked, it didn't really discuss in full detail why the Slytherins always looked at her with such disgust on her face or why some of the Ravenclaws seemed to avoid her. Hermione wanted to ask Padma about it, but she was afraid that it would make it obvious to Padma and then she'd lose her friends.

"Um…" Hermione began.

"I know we're both Ravenclaws, but it doesn't mean we have to have our noses in books all the time!" Padma said. She grabbed Hermione's hand and tugged at it. "Come on. Let's go out for a walk around the grounds."

"But—"

"No buts," Padma declared. "Besides, it about time you met my twin, Parvati."

-

Harry told Parvati for the third time that _yes _he was absolutely sure that he did not want to go walk around the grounds with her. He wanted to read the article that Remus had given him on the latest breakthrough that might lead to a temporary partial cure for werewolves on the full moon. According to Remus, the potion would enable him to retain his human mind in his werewolf form and that would keep him from attacking innocents unknowingly. Harry hoped it was true because he knew how bad Remus would feel if he ever inadvertently attacked a student at Hogwarts, should he ever get free from the restraints that Albus and Minerva had put into place.

"But Harry," Parvati whined, "I want you to meet Padma."

"Padma?" Harry said, having realized a little while ago that if he just repeated the last word that Parvati said, it was a safe way to make it look like he was paying attention to her when he was busy focusing on something else.

"My _twin_," Parvati said in exasperation. "She's in Ravenclaw…"

"Ravenclaw?"

"HARRY POTTER!" Parvati exclaimed. "Stop reading and pay attention!"

Harry sighed and looked up. "What?"

"Come walk around the grounds with me."

"You already asked. I told you that I didn't want to."

Parvati grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him out, something she was able to accomplish with relative ease since she was slightly taller than him and unfortunately for him, also stronger. "I didn't ask you this time," Parvati stated, still pulling him along. "I told you and you're coming."

-

"Hermione, this is…"

"Harry Potter," Hermione murmured, remembering the brief meeting on the Hogwarts Express until a slightly chubby boy by the name of Neville who had gotten sorted into Hufflepuff had started making Harry uncomfortable. At least, she had sensed he was and she had ended up pulling Neville away to go somewhere else to search for his missing toad. Hermione wondered if he had ever found his toad… she hoped so for Neville was a nice boy, even if he was a forgetful boy. He hadn't remembered her name correctly in the one class they shared, Herbology, even though she had helped him search most of the train for his toad.

"Hermione," Padma said, shaking Hermione's arm. "She does this sometimes." Padma smiled apologetically. "Stares off into space."

"Harry does that too," Parvati remarked. "Quite maddening at times."

Padma laughed. "You never like being ignored."

"Neither do you!" Parvati protested.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and Harry smiled a bit, both of them turning to watch their friends. The twins kept arguing for a bit until they realized they weren't alone and they smiled sheepishly. Padma glanced down at the ground, while Parvati brushed back her hair. The four of them stood in brief, awkward silence until Parvati spoke up, "Well, what about a walk around the grounds?"

-

"So what do you think?" Parvati immediately asked when they were back in the Gryffindor commons.

"She's very… I don't know… precise," Harry said finally. He looked at the fire blazing in the fireplace, thinking it was quite unnecessary when it was still rather warm outside. "But she's nice enough."

"What do you mean by precise?" Parvati asked sharply. "You aren't saying that just because you can't say anything nice about my twin, are you?"

"Oh," Harry let out involuntarily, flushing a light pink, "I meant Hermione. Your sister, Padma, she's very sweet."

Harry could feel her eyes on him, studying him intently and he felt like very exposed. "You thought I was asking about Hermione?"

"Uh…"

"How cute!" Parvati exclaimed. "You like her, don't you?"

Harry didn't get why Parvati was looking at him in a peculiar way when he decided it was safe enough to glance back at her. What was the big deal if he found Hermione an interesting person?

Girls were so… confounding.

-

"You don't want to be here," Zabini remarked one time when the other boys in the dorm was sleeping, saying this so close to Ron's ear that he almost jumped away in surprise. He hadn't even heard the other boy approaching and he cursed at himself for letting his guard down. He knew better than to be slack when he was in a den of snakes. But Ron had to hold back a sneer at the black boy's statement. Of course, he didn't want to be here. Why was Zabini stating the obvious? "You'd rather be in Gryffindor, wouldn't you?"

Ron gritted his teeth, still staring out at the dark sky, forcing his thoughts to drift to wondering if Harry was sleeping as he should be doing right now himself.

"But you know, you don't really belong there," Zabini whispered to Ron's growing fury. "You're more like us than them. I've seen you sneaking around at night," he continued nonchalantly. "If you don't want to be caught, you ought to be more careful."

Ron wanted to turn around and hit Zabini, but his last sentence stopped Ron from acting. Zabini, for some inane reason, was helping him. Ron didn't get it, but he swallowed his anger. "Thanks."

Zabini didn't say anything more, he just drifted off to wherever he had been and to do whatever he had been doing. Ron stayed where he was sitting by the window, but instead of counting the stars and hating where he was—he thought of other things, such as why the sorting hat had placed him in Slytherin.

…_you'll do anything to get your way…_

**TBC**

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. I will try to keep updates weekly at the very latest.


	14. Establishing the Links

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. _Also_ there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Fourteen  
_Establishing the Links_

"Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that," Draco sneered in absolute disgust. "Is anyone sick of how sycophantic the professors are around him?"

"Snape's not," Goyle said.

"Yeah, he's the only one with a sound mind," Draco retorted and then continued on complaining about Harry throughout breakfast.

Quite frankly, Ron was sick of hearing about this, especially when he saw Draco being nice, if not nicer, to Harry when in front of his face. What a fucking hypocrite! Ron just wanted to shove his breakfast into that ferret's face and… maybe punch in the gut, but it wasn't something Harry would do. Harry was just too nice. Ron sighed.

Ron wanted to cover his ears with his hands, to escape the next part of the conversation Draco had with his two goons. It was about how to get Harry Potter, a Gryffindor no less, to be his friend. Ron hated that even more than the hypocrisy. He wanted to tell Draco that Harry would never, ever be his friend!

-

Herbology was Neville's favorite class, but he also kind of dreaded it at the same time when it came time to find a partner to work with. Zacharias and Justin always, invariably paired up and that left Neville to find a partner of his own. It wasn't that his two flatmates didn't like him, they were just better friends with each other, so close in fact that Neville sometimes felt left out. But whenever he felt like he wasn't wanted, they would urge him to join in and it was all right. Most of the time, though, Professor Sprout didn't really have them pair up, so it was okay. Mainly it was just group work and that was more in Neville's comfort zone.

"Today," Professor Sprout announced, "you will be working in pairs to plant some young Devil's Snare. Even though the cuttings of the Devil's Snare are young, they can still grab hold of you and be hard to remove, which is why I think it's best you work in pairs so that one of you can pull the Devil's Snare off the other. So go on, choose your partners and then go over there to get your cuttings. I expect each of you to plant one Devil's Snare. If you can do more, that would be excellent!"

Of course, Zacharias quickly paired up with Justin and that left Neville to try and find a partner. He was surprised when Harry Potter kind of walked up to him and asked, "Do you… uh, partners?"

Neville knew that Harry always partners up with Parvati, but he looked around the greenhouse and saw that Parvati wasn't there today. Maybe she was sick, but it was his lucky day, he supposed. He wondered why Harry would want to partner up with him. He had heard a lot of what the other first years said about him and it wasn't kind.

Really only his two flatmates, Zacharias and Justin were nice to him and made him feel included. He felt fairly cut off from everything else and he wondered what it would have been like if he had been sorted into another house other than Hufflepuff, the thought made him shudder. Would he even have any friends?

Neville bit his lip, maybe one. Harry Potter seemed rather nice, from all that he'd seen of him so far.

Harry looked down at his hands and fidgeted. "It's all right if you don't. I understand. I—"

"No, no," Neville said in a rush and blushed. "That'd be great, to be your partner, I mean."

"Oh." Harry brightened up immediately when he smiled and didn't look hesitant anymore. Neville smiled back, feeling a lot surer of himself, especially now that he had a partner. "Hmmm," Harry said and looked in the direction of where the cuttings of Devil's Snare are. "Do you want to go first or do you want me?"

Yeah, Neville thought, Harry Potter really was nice.

-

"So?" Zacharias asked, dropping onto his bed. "How was it?"

Neville had no idea what he was talking about and he looked around the room, but Justin was somewhere else, probably off sending an owl to his parents in the muggle world. "About what?"

"Working with Harry Potter, of course," Zacharias drawled.

"Good," Neville said, sitting down on his own bed. "He's really nice and friendly."

"I've wondered if it was true," Zacharias remarked. "The good things most say about him or if they were simply trying to get into his good book since he is the Boy Who Lived."

"It's true," Neville said softly.

"Well that's all and good, but could be problematic later on."

Neville looked at Zacharias, again quite confused by what his flatmate was referring to. Sometimes, he really didn't get anything Zacharias said. Neville didn't know if it was because he was as slow as other said he was or if Zacharias was just weird.

"You don't get it, do you?" Zacharias shrugged. "I'm glad he was nice to you. More people should be. You're a good bloke, Nev."

And then as strange as Zacharias was, he could say something like that and make Neville feel nice and warm inside.

"Harry Potter would be lucky to be friends with you."

Neville didn't really believe that, but it was still nice of Zacharias to say.

-

Hermione was sitting in the library with a stack of books in front of her; additional reading that she thought might come in handy in general since she didn't really have the magical background that most everyone in the school seemed to. Of course, she probably would have been reading this anyway, she mused. At least she'd been sorted into the brainy house. Her flatmates didn't mind that she was reading all the time. They did it too. She finally felt like she belonged. She still remembered how awkward it had been at her old school, how she always felt like the outsider. She knew she was different, she just hadn't known how different.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Hermione looked up and saw Harry Potter. She nodded quickly and moved some of her books to the side so that he could put down his own stash of books.

"Doing some researching?" she asked, gesturing to the books.

"Oh, yeah. Mainly for potions," Harry remarked as he set his books down and took a seat opposite of her. "I'm not really good at it."

"I don't think so. I mean," she stammered, flushing, "I think you're good at it."

"I guess I just don't feel that good at that class like the others," he said softly. "I guess it makes sense…"

"What makes sense?" she asked.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Nothing." He opened his book and Hermione wanted to say something more, but shut her mouth.

She hated it when people tried to talk to her when she was reading. She was really tempted to ask him something, anything, but she didn't want to be rude. Actually, more like nosy, she thought as she studied the barely visible scar on Harry's forehead. He really was such a gentle, sweet boy, and not at all what she imagined a hero being like. Then again, he was a hero because of something he had done when he was a baby.

She really shouldn't judge him on that, but on other characteristics. She remembered something her mum had told her about not rushing to judge someone. You never really stopped learning and the same thing could be said about knowing people. There was always more to discover. Her mum was right. There was a lot more to know about Harry Potter.

Who knew a hero would be such a bookworm? Hermione sighed almost dreamily. She had thought they only existed in her imagination.

-

Zacharias decided it was time that he met Harry Potter formally and on his own terms. So he promptly found out Potter's timetable and through his many unsuspecting sources that Potter was a routine kind of fellow. It wasn't hard at all to arrange a time to bump into Potter in a hallway when no one was around.

"Oh," Potter said, looking down sheepishly at the books scattered along the floor. "I'm so sorry. I really didn't see you coming and… I'm sorry."

Zacharias bent down and picked up his own belongings, smiling a little before carefully schooling his expression back to its former blankness. Harry Potter was exactly what he had expected. Definitely a potential problem, this nice boy façade, but charmingly sweet in its own way. No wonder Potter had claimed every Professor's regard, what with his kind manners and his magical prowess it was a wonder that Snape still held him in slight contempt. But then Snape would probably never like any student outside of his own house.

"It's all right," Zacharias said, standing up.

Potter's face brightened up like a lighting charm had been placed on him. "So you're all right then?"

Zacharias mentally rolled his eyes, but made sure now of his wry impatience showed on his face. He decided it was better not to talk. Instead he inclined his head and held out his wand. "Zacharias Smith. First year Hufflepuff."

Potter hesitated a little before holding out his own wand. Zacharias tapped his against Potter's like his grandpa had taught him was the proper way. "Harry Potter. Um… first year Gryffindor."

Interesting, Zacharias thought. To anyone else, he presumed, Potter would have looked like he knew this particular wizarding custom, but Zacharias had caught the look of uncertainty in Potter's eyes. Hmmm… how incredibly interesting. Zacharias had been wondering about Potter's background ever since he'd emerged from the seemingly no where to take his spot as the famous _Boy Who Lived_.

It hadn't been all that surprising that Potter hadn't been stuck-up, not when he came off as incredibly naïve and sweet. Someone, whoever it was, had done a good job protecting him. Zacharias wondered if that had been a good idea—such overprotection. It certainly kept Potter away from the media attention that would likely have made him a stuck-up, egotistical brat, but it had also kept him too sheltered.

"You don't know much about wizarding customs, do you?" Zacharias said all of a sudden, surprising himself, much less Potter. "

"Not really," Potter sheepishly replied, his hands fidgeting in front of him.

"Well then, it's lucky that you've met my acquaintance," Zacharias drawled in a voice that sounded much more like himself. "You'll learn from the best."

Zacharias wanted to laugh a little at the expression that appeared on Potter's face, but he kept his hilarity in check. It wasn't right to laugh. Potter might get the wrong idea and Zacharias wasn't really laughing at Potter (that much), but mainly at the idea that he was willing to help anyone at all… without a higher gain at the forefront of his mind.

-

Draco was not entirely pleased with how his plans were proceeding in garnering Potter's friendship. So far they had not run into each other at all. Then again it was only the beginning of the school term and he had already presumed he was unlikely to truly have much time for Potter until he had established himself in Slytherin. He had done that. He was _the Slytherin_ of his year and now it was time to concentrate on Potter.

He had sent Potter a special letter through a rather dimwitted Hufflepuff boy to personally invite Potter to the Quidditch pitch to see him tonight. He expected Potter to show up on time, but so far he had been waiting here for ten minutes and Potter still had not come. Granted it wasn't the time yet, but Draco was starting to grow impatient. Wasn't it supposed to be a virtue to show up early?!

Draco tapped his foot into the ground, starting to grow increasingly impatient when he made out the silhouette of the Boy Who Lived heading in his direction. Draco felt the tension within him decrease markedly.

"Hi," Potter said, waving the letter in his hand. "Neville gave me this and well, I'm here."

Draco tempered his tongue from making a sharp retort that Potter didn't need to state the obvious. "I just wanted to inform you of something of great importance."

Potter looked a little confused, maybe more than that but Draco didn't know him well enough to read his expression yet. Later on, he intended to be able to read everything about Potter.

"You," Draco said softly in the way his father had taught would carry his voice, "are going to be my best friend."

**TBC**

Author's Note: Erm, yeah update finally!!! Sorry just been rather busy trying to get my life sorted together and, of course, my computer has been having massive issues. At least, I didn't lose everything. As always I do appreciate your feedback and I would like to know what characters you find interesting, so I can start to focus on their POVs. That's all!


	15. Ulterior Motives

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

Chapter 15  
_Ulterior Motives_

Harry was glad that the day was almost over. He didn't think he could stand to have anything else bizarre happen. He sighed and Parvati looked up from her scroll where she was scribbling her homework down. Harry thought that Padme and Parvati weren't that different from each other, which made sense considering they were twins. Parvati was a bit of a bookworm for a Gryffindor, but he guessed she wasn't as much of one as her sister, if Hermione was any indication.

Hermione was—

"What's wrong?" Parvati asked.

Harry looked up, startled. "Nothing."

"Something's wrong."

Harry bit on his bottom lip. "What makes you think that?"

"First, you're chewing on your lip," Parvati replied. "That's a dead giveaway. Second, you don't usually sit and stare off into space unless you're thinking about something and that usually happens 'coz something's wrong."

Harry smiled sheepishly, thinking that Parvati knew him really well and it hadn't even been very long. He wondered if it was because he was an easy person to read or if it was something else entirely. He didn't really know. He supposed he could ask her, but how did one go about asking that sort of thing?

"What's wrong?" she asked again. "You're staring off again, so don't even bother trying to deny it."

"I'm just thinking about someone," he finally said.

"Who?" Parvati asked, curiosity shining in her brown eyes.

"Zacharias Smith," Harry said. He didn't know why he chose to say Zacharias' name over Draco's or even why he just didn't say both.

"Haven't heard much about him," Parvati said. "He seems like a pretty normal Hufflepuff to me."

Harry tilted his head, thinking about what Parvati had just said. From what he' read about Hufflepuffs in various tomes about past Hogwart students, Zacharias didn't seem to fit into the typical Hufflepuff mold. He seemed... well, at least to Harry, he appeared to be more of a Slytherin in Hufflepuff robes. It was just odd.

"What about him?" she asked.

"He... wants to teach me about wizarding customs," Harry mumbled.

"I could do that!" Parvati exclaimed before her eagerness faded a bit. "Hmmm... but my customs are more of Hindu origin than proper British. He probably would be a better tutor in that. I don't see what's wrong with him helping you. Did you bugger up something? Is that why he suggested that?"

Harry blushed. "I guess so."

"Well then, what's so wrong about that?" Parvati asked. "Is that what was bothering you? You're so silly!" She messed up his hair and picked up the quill she had put down earlier.

Harry wondered, watching Parvati resume her work if he was being silly, reading too much into the strangeness of what Zacharias Smith and Draco Malfoy seem to want. He probably was. They were just being helpful and nice. There really was nothing wrong with that. Harry nodded and picked up an Advanced Charms textbook he had loaned from the library for some extra reading. He opened the book, having decided there was nothing wrong with getting to know either Smith or Malfoy better. The only problem that lingered in his head was that Ron wasn't going to like the getting to know Malfoy better thing at all.

-

Minerva was still worried about how Harry would be adjusting to a life that was totally different from anything he had experienced before. There were just so many more people in his life now that she wondered if he felt overwhelmed. She sighed and poured some more tea for herself. She was not surprised in the least when Yenty popped in her private chambers to retrieve the empty teapot and replace it with a filled one before disappearing.

Yenty had been awfully attentive to her recently since Albus had banned her from caring for Harry anymore. Albus had made it quite clear that it was time that Harry fully integrate himself into the real world, instead of the detached, hidden Hogwarts life he had had. Minerva knew it was for the best, but she still wistfully missed the times when Harry would play chase with her Animagus-self.

But that was the past and they had to move forward, no matter how much she wished things could stay static and unchanging. It wasn't realistic and Albus was right to get Harry ready for whatever might happen in the future. It was well-known that Voldemort still had followers out there and those people could be a great danger to Harry. Minerva summoned a Defense of the Dark Arts textbook from her shelf. She was halfway through reading it.

She knew Remus was perfectly capable of teaching Harry Defense. If she were honest with herself, he was likely to be much better of a teacher than he was considering it was his interest and specialty. Still she didn't think it would hurt if she brushed up on her own skills. You never knew when you might need it in her opinion and it was always best to be prepared.

-

"I wish we got to spend more time together," Ron said, his arm slung loosely around Harry's shoulder as they sat on the Quidditch pitch watching the sun sink into the earth after a fun and sweaty game of catch the snitch. Harry, of course, had caught it first, but that never did seem to deter Ron very much from the game. "I don't like school at all. I really don't understand why you like it so much."

"Well, we're learning magic," Harry pointed out. "Isn't that what you always wanted?"

"We're learning theory," Ron muttered. "I don't like that at all. I don't see why we have to understand the theory behind it. I just want to do the bloody spell!"

Harry bit his tongue, knowing that Ron wouldn't want a lecture right now. Harry understood Ron really well, as well as he understood anyone, and he knew when to keep his mouth shut and just let Ron rant.

"It's just this theory after this theory and the only class we're really getting to do stuff is potions and I bloody well hate that class!" Ron shouted. "That greasy git really has it out for me. It's like I'm trying to make mistakes. They're accidents. Doesn't he understand?"

Harry patted Ron's back soothingly until the angry tension left his body. "Snape's not very fair to anyone. I don't mind tutoring you. We can do it all Saturday if you want. It doesn't matter."

Ron shook his head vehemently. "I can't stand doing schoolwork anymore on Saturday. I'm a dunce at potions and you know it. It doesn't help that Snape always gears the hardest questions at me. It's just not fair."

Harry nodded and rested his head on Ron's shoulder. He knew that Ron liked that and it calmed his best friend down. He just hoped that Ron wasn't going to be angry for the rest of the time. It was such a pretty evening and Harry would much rather talk Quidditch with Ron than talk about Professor Snape anymore. He didn't understand why life had to suddenly get so complicated with school. He liked the learning. He just didn't like the other upheavals.

"I know."

-

Blaise did not like Weasley much, but Weasley was useful in the game of numbers. With Crabbe and Goyle firmly in Malfoy's camp, Blaise needed Weasley—if not on his side at least not against him. Blaise kept his face blank as he ate breakfast, but inside his mind was whirling with how best to proceed.

When he had first entered Slytherin, he had assumed he would be taking full advantage of his mother's famous beauty and fortune to move to the top of his year. He hadn't factored in Malfoy and the name that much, figuring that he was the much better looking of the two, but in the end Malfoy had succeeded in becoming the head of their year, much to Blaise's initial disgust.

Now that he had settled into the status quo, Blaise decided he much preferred to remain in the background. He could observed all that he needed to and still reap the benefits without antagonizing members of the other Houses overly much to maintain the Slytherin name. It worked much to his advantage.

It didn't hurt either that Professor Snape had turned out to be a lot fairier than Blaise had hoped with the Slytherins. Sure, Blaise recognized that Snape was biased for his own House, but he remained quite fair within the House boundaries. He didn't care about the name or bloodline or money tied to a particular person. The only thing that might biase him in your favor was if you were good at potions. Luckily, Blaise knew he wasn't half bad. Not great, but not bad. Better than most, he thought, especially Weasley.

Blaise really didn't know how Weasley could end up in Slytherin when his whole family were pretty much Gryffindors. The only thing he had going for him was that he was a Pureblood, other than that—not much else.

But... Blaise knew that Weasley would be fairly easy to maneuver as long as you didn't touch on three sensitive issues... (1) the Potter boy (2) his family (3) and the fact he was dirt poor. As long as you avoided insulting all those three, then Weasley was tolerable to suggestion and Blaise knew he could make use to that. It wasn't as if Weasley had much of a choice. Blaise didn't want to blackmail Weasley, not when a friendship or at least an allied-type of relationship could exist, but if he had to he would. Weasley really didn't want Blaise to tell Professor Snape he had been sneaking out past hours, did he?

Blaise waited until the rest of his house mates were sound asleep before he setup a Silencing Charm around Weasley's bed. Then he shook the redhead until he woke up with a start. "Shhhh..." Blaise said. "You really don't to wake anybody else up."

"What--" Weasley began before Blaise pressed his hand over his mouth and effectively shut him up.

"Will you listen?" Weasley's eyes were flashing indignantly, but he slowly nodded his head. At least, he wasn't as stupid as Blaise had thought he was at first. "Good," he said. "I know you don't like Slytherins much, but face it. You're one and you might as well get used to it. We're not all bad, you know."

Blaise really didn't want to be the one convincing Weasley of this, he really didn't care all that much how Weasley's brain work, but it just so happened that it was slightlyimportant that Weasley think he wasn't such a bad guy if his plan was going to work. Blaise geared himself for retaliation and reminded himself that he had to be patient.

"Bulstrode isn't so bad, just not so pretty on the eyes," he remarked. "And there's you." When Blaise said that he almost wanted to gag, but he kept that feeling entirely to himself. "You almost were in Gryffindor and I almost was a Ravenclaw," he lied with ease. "I know you don't want to be friends with any Slytherins, but it wouldn't hurt to look out for each other, would it?"

"I guess not," Weasley muttered when Blaise lowered his hand.

"I've kept my mouth shut about you sneaking off to see Potter," Blaise continued. "I can be an ally with you if you don't want a friend, but if I'm that to you—I expect the same from you."

"Yeah," Weasley said, nodding. "Makes sense. Fair's fair."

Blaise grinned, knowing he had Weasley exactly where he wanted him. Now he was just betting that Weasley's sense of fair play, extracted from his Gryffindor heritage, trumped any of his innate Slytherin characteristics that had someone landed him in the House of Snakes.

"Then it's an alliance."

-

Remus opened up his door late Friday night to discover Harry. He held out his arms instinctively and Harry jumped into them and buried his head against Remus' chest. Remus didn't ask any questions, knowing that when Harry was ready to say something he would. He hugged Harry for a very long time before Harry spoke and when he did, what he said didn't really surprise Remus and yet at the same time it still was a bit of a shock.

"I don't understand," Harry began in a soft voice. "I don't get why everything has to get so complicated. Why does Ron have to hate school? Why are all these people wanting to be friends with me? I just want to be left alone! I..."

"It's okay," Remus murmured, stroking Harry's messy hair. It reminded Remus so much of Harry's father just like his eyes resembled Lily so vividly. "It's not easy, but it's something that must be dealt with. And would you mind if I gave you a piece of advice?"

Harry shook his head.

"Make your friends carefully, Harry. Your," Remus paused and cleared his throat, "past will lure people who want to be your friends for the wrong reasons. You need to consider their motives, if they want to be your friend for you or for another ulterior reason."

"To use me," Harry whispered. "Right?"

Remus nodded sadly. "Perhaps."

"I don't want to be used."

Remus held Harry only more tightly as his response. No one wanted to be used, but Remus was afraid that in some way Harry was already being used and it was only going to get worse in the future. Remus dreaded those coming days.

-

**Note:** The update took a little longer than expected, but I hope you're liking where this is going. It's been a while since you've seen Harry's POV but a good deal of the chapter is from him and other character whose POV you haven't visited in a while. More POVs are coming up and I hope you liked the new one I introduced. As always, reviews are wonderful and thanks for all the support!

_I will always plan on releasing a new fanfiction soon to pique my interest in fandom writing again. It's going to be an AU since I like working with those stories best. Thanks for staying with me in this long hiatus . _


	16. A Trip to the Hospital Ward

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

Chapter 16  
_A Trip to the Hospital Ward_

Harry collapsed in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Hermione pushed the stunned Parvati out of the way and quickly grabbed him up so his head wasn't touching the hard stone floor. She brushed aside his fringe and saw that his scar was red. She touched his scar gently and drew her hand back quickly when she saw blood taint her fingers. She looked around the room and saw that Padma was crouched next to Parvati, both of them looked anxious and Hermione saw that the Gryffindors had huddled around their housemate. They all looked worried.

"Someone get Madame Pomfrey!" Hermione exclaimed, wondering what they were all doing there sitting and not doing something. Parvati, for all her early shock, was the first to move. She stood and ran out the classroom door, shoving past Professor Quirrell, who was uselessly standing there as if he didn't know what to do.

He probably didn't, Hermione thought viciously. He wasn't even a decent Defense Professor. Hermione had the feeling that Harry knew a whole lot more about the first year material, for all that Professor Quirrell was an expert in the field. Harry probably could teach it better too. Brilliant wizards didn't necessarily make great teachers.

Hermione stroked Harry's face gently, lowering her head to murmur, "Harry, are you all right? Are you there? Can you please wake up? Everyone's really worried about you."

"What is going on here," Madame Pomfrey said, her arms planted on her waist and she looked completely competent, much to Hermione's relief. "What happened?"

"He collapsed," Hermione said. "I don't know why. He just..."

Madame Pomfrey took her wand out and waved it, muttering a diagnostic spell before levitating Harry and proceeding to walk out the classroom. Harry followed right behind her. When she got to where Professor Quirrell was standing, she stopped and said, "You know as a Professor you should have brought the student directly to me. What is this nonsense of asking the Patil girl to bring me here? What if Potter had truly been hurt?"

"What's—what's wrong with him?" Professor Quirrell stuttered out.

"He has a severe headache that caused him to blackout," Madame Pomfrey said. "Nothing life threatening, but it is not a light matter to be sure. Now excuse, I have a patient to tend to as you have a class to teach."

Hermione really wished she could leave with Madame Pomfrey and go to the hospital ward with her, but she knew she would need to wait until after class was over. Her next class was with Professor McGonagall. She was sure she could get a pass to go see Harry then.

-

Albus was informed immediately by Yenty what had happened to Harry and he had to fight the instinct to rush to Harry's side. He did not want anyone to suspect that Harry and he had any special relationship other than that of Headmaster and student. Let the rest think they had only met when Harry had entered Hogwarts. That would be for the best of everyone.

That was why Albus summoned both Minerva and Remus to his office to tell them that under no circumstance were they to show any partiality to Harry, even in this extreme circumstance. Minerva was only allowed to visit Harry briefly to show her concerns as his Head of House, and Remus was banned entirely from seeing Harry until Harry was well enough to traipse to the abandoned part of the castle where Remus lived.

"Albus, that is unreasonable," Minerva said. "You don't think we can just sit here and do nothing for him. He's collapsed!"

"It will be too suspicious," Albus said, noting he would have to make sure that Yenty did not visit Harry either. "I am beginning to think it was a mistake to train Harry so young about magic. We probably should have given him cursory background knowledge sufficient enough for him to be on par with his classmates rather than letting him trudge ahead. He is too far ahead for his own good."

"What else could we have done?" Minerva asked just as Remus leaned forward. "He would have been bored just playing there all day. You know what curiosity he has, what a mind he has. He wouldn't have been able not to learn as he has."

"And he is not a showoff," Remus added softly. "Harry has told me that he sometimes feels different because he knows so much more magic than his fellow students and he says sometimes he pretends not to know as much as he does so he doesn't stand out. Harry is starting to learn when to hold back."

"Then you two must follow his example then," Albus stated firmly, catching both Remus and Minerva off guard. "Harry must grow up and learn how to stand on his own two feet, no matter how hard it may be to watch. Remus, you are to stay in your quarters tending to your Defense research unless Harry comes to visit you." Albus paused and turned to Minerva. "You are no longer allowed to act as anything but his Head of House."

"But Albus--" she began.

"It would be best if you both heeded my word," Albus said. "I know it won't be easy, but it is the only way."

Minerva still looked defiant, but she nodded that she would accede. Remus looked resigned to it, bu then again given the life he had led Albus understood why Remus wasn't going to put up much of a fight in this. Albus sighed. He hoped they understood it wasn't only going to be difficult for them. It was going to hard for him too.

-

Ron had thought it was strange when Harry did not appear at lunch, but maybe Harry was eating lunch with Remus. It wasn't until later that he found out Harry was in the hospital ward. Ron felt something clench in his stomach and he wondered if Harry was okay and he really wanted to go check up on him, but they were in Potions and there was no way the greasy git was going to let them out of class.

Ron suffered through the class, but he was anxious to get to the hospital ward that he made so many mistakes that Snape gave him a detention and told him to stay after class. Ron gritted his teeth in frustration, but he really didn't need to get another detention. He already had two this week and it was going to cut into the valuable free time he had with Harry.

"Yes, sir?" he said carefully.

"Your work is usually sub-par," Snape began, "but today you have gone even more drastically downhill. You are a Slytherin, Weasley, even if you seem in every way to be a Gryffindor. Shape up or else."

Ron looked up in surprise. It was the first time Snape had ever said anything to him that was remotely like advice instead of harsh criticism.

"I know you would rather be in any House besides mine," Snape continued, "but you are here now and you might as well get used to it. Your manner around your fellow housemates is despicable. If you do not like them, then they will not like you. It is only a rule of logic. You are dismissed."

Ron quickly left, but Snape's words stayed with him all through the long walk to the hospital ward.

-

Neville had been pacing up and down the length of the room since he had heard that Potter had fainted in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Zacharias was starting to feel a twinge of annoyance that meant his patience was being tried. He kept his tongue tightly leashed. Neville was a bit of a worrier and it shouldn't be a surprise that he should feel anxious for Harry. Potter was after all one of the nicest, kindest people to Neville.

"You could go see him, you know," Zacharias drawled from where he was sprawled on his bed. "I'm sure you wouldn't be the only one."

Neville looked up, startled. "I don't want to bother him."

"I'm sure there are plenty of other people making a nuisance of themselves," Zacharias replied, thinking it wasn't like Potter would actually tell everyone to leave him alone. He was too nice for that. "I'll even go with you, if you want."

"Would you?"

Zacharias nodded. Neville asked such useless questions. "He is, after all, a friend of mine too."

-

Harry lying on the hospital bed, finally alone after endless visits by his friends. It seemed everyone he knew had paid him a visit. He had tried to be polite to them all, but he was really tired and his head was still burning. He just wanted some rest. But Minerva had always taught him to be respectful to others, so he had tried his best.

Now he had a quiet moment and he looked out the window at the solitary moon. The clouds were obscuring the stars tonight. Still the half moon made a beautiful, if hazy sight and he was content to just look at it. Soon the full moon would be there and Remus would have to undergo his painful change. Harry somewhat understood what Remus must go through, although the burning of his scar was probably nothing compared to the pain Remus felt all over his body.

Harry carefully touched his scar and sighed when it still ached at his feather-like touch. He didn't understand why his head had been hurting so badly. He never got headaches and it seemed strange that it almost always worsened when he had Defense class. It was like he was allergic to the room, but that didn't make sense at all. Harry wrinkled his forehead. He wanted to go to the Library and research his curse scar and see if there were any lingering side effects that could cause problems.

He knew there was not going to be anything remotely like his situation, but he figured he might be able to find something similar. At worse, it wouldn't hurt to try. Harry closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.

-

Professor Quirrell was in sitting at his desk, his head propped on his hand, and he was sleeping which gave Voldemort free rein to think. Quirrell was turning out to be not as useful or as powerful as Voldemort would have liked, but he had been lucky to stumble on a wizard with enough magic to handle the possession. A lesser wizard probably would have died and it had been a significant boon to discover that Quirrell had already signed a contract to become the next Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

Normally, that would have spelled great trouble for Voldemort. But considering his need for unicorn blood (of which the nearby Forbidden Forest was a great resource) and his nagging suspicion that Dumbledore had hidden the philosopher's stone somewhere in Hogwarts—he would take the risk of being near the righteous old fool. Voldemort narrowed his eyes as he looked out at the clouds in the dark sky.

A storm was coming and it would be a good distraction for what needed to be done. He would find the stone and make sure the boy was nearby. His body would be perfect as a replacement. Voldemort thought it would be only fitting; after all, the boy had taken his own body from him.

-

**Note:** What do you think is going to happen next? Some of you thought there wasn't much action taking place, but I was trying to establish some key characters before I continued on with the story. I have added a Voldemort POV and it should move the story along from here, spicing up further action. As for Harry resting his head on Ron's shoulder, he's a pretty affectionate boy and he doesn't realize that it's strange for boys to do that with each other. This story will take a different path than the canon series, but I hope it still has that strangely familiar feel.

I also would like to know how many ppl. are still reading this. I know it's been a while, but there were 2000 hits for the last chapter and only 30 reviews. So just leave a review if you're still reading so I can know how many are multiple hits and how many are actually readers. Thanks!

_I have also released a new AU that takes a new spin on magic. It's called Flavor of Life. It is slash and Snarry. It is mostly a romantic, action/adventure story and I hope that you will enjoy reading that as well. _


	17. A Time to Think

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

**Side Note:** _Lanoger_, I think you'll like this chapter very much. Thanks for the suggestion!

Chapter 17  
_A Time to Think_

Parvati found a pale-faced Harry in the library, researching. It seemed he was dead earnest about finding whatever had afflicted him that day in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Madame Pomfrey had said it was simply a case of a very bad headache, possibly a short term head fever as well. It was nothing serious.

Parvati had her own doubts about Pomfrey's diagnosis. It didn't explain his bleeding scar. She had Hermione touch the scar. It hadn't bled much and had probably stopped by the time Pomfrey had transported him to the hospital ward. Harry had a good reason to research, but he had just gotten out of the hospital a day ago. He was doing too much too soon. He was going to wear himself out at this rate.

"It's ten o'clock," she said. "Curfew was an hour ago."

Harry didn't even look up at her.

"You should be resting. You look exhausted already," Parvati continued. "You don't want a relapse, do you?"

Harry turned the page in his book, still pointedly ignoring her. It was started to get a bit irritating.

"Harry James Potter," Parvati said, her hands on her hips, "I distinctly remember Madame Pomfrey saying you had to take it easy for a few days. Somehow I doubt what you are doing is following her order. Would--"

Harry finally looked up and said, "I'm almost done."

"Promise you'll go to sleep right after?"

Harry nodded and yawned. "Soon. I'm knackered."

"All right," Parvati said and sat down. "I'll wait until you're done then."

Harry smiled weakly and kept on reading as fast as he could.

-

Remus had always been a good boy growing up and unlike his fellow Marauders, he had been a bit of a stickler for the rules. But he completely disregarded what Albus had asked of him by watching over Harry in the hospital ward while he had been in convalescence. He understood Albus' concern. While Harry could surely see him, the other students could not and even Madame Pomfrey would think it weird of Harry were caught talking to someone that wasn't visually there.

Remus made sure Harry was asleep when he came and it had been a bit of a comfort for him to watch over Harry. It felt familiar, to watch him sleeping, even if it was in a hospital bed. Remus had hoped then that things weren't going to change, but when Harry finally came to his room later the following day, he knew that something in Harry had changed. It wasn't a major change, but Remus could detect that Harry had toughed somewhat.

Remus suspected that Harry had been having a headache for a while and had just never said anything. Remus already knew that Harry was more like his mum than his dad, but he had never suspected that Harry was that much like her. Lily had always been the type to be sacrificial, and it's for that very reason that her son was here now.

Sighing, Remus opened up a book about curse scars that were in the Restricted Section of the library. Harry had asked him if he could find any books about curse scars there, so that he could come by tonight to look at them. Harry certainly a diligent child and growing at an extraordinarily fast rate. There was something quite adult-like about his studious nature, and now there was something else there as well. Harry was learning a lot about how people viewed him and it had hardened him a little.

Remus didn't have to ask to know that Harry really didn't like the fact that he was famous because of something he did as a baby. It was in the expression on his face when Harry talked about how his classmates reacted to him, especially Draco Malfoy. Remus had given Harry some advice, to be patient and to let those people get to know him for who he really was, but he also cautioned him. There were, after all, people out there that would use him for their own good.

-

Harry was getting the nagging suspicion after he had picked up some of the books from the Restricted Section of the Library that Remus had procured for him that there was something seriously wrong with him. There was no curse scar that quite displayed his glaring headaches, but most curse scars weren't on a person's forehead. Simply put, a curse scar that ended up there usually killed the victim.

Harry did find that it was likely there was some connection between him and the man who had tried to kill him—Voldemort. That was why there was pain. He was currently reading under his covers about a curse scar on the arm of a wizard that had led to pain spasms. It turned out that the pain had to do with a connection he had to the witch that had inflicted him with the curse scar. It didn't affect her, but it had affected him quite severely that he had eventually cut his arm up rather than go through that affliction.

Harry shuddered. That wasn't an option for him though. He quite literally needed his head. Harry shut the book and rolled up into a ball in his covers. He was exhausted. It was well past midnight and he had to get up at 7 o'clock tomorrow for Potions. He sighed. He was sure Professor Snape was going to ask him a lot of questions as he usually did. He hoped he could recall what he had read earlier in the evening, but there was just so much he'd read since then that he wasn't sure.

Well even if he did forgot , it wasn't that big of a deal. He had done his best and he had uncovered something that might help him solve the problem with his scar. He was on the right track. Now if only he could figure out why his scar hurt so much whenever he went to Defense Against the Dark Arts...

-

Snape alternated between hating Potter for being his nemesis' son and liking him for actually being good at potions. Snape couldn't deny that Potter had Evans' head for potion-making. He was remarkably good, even with his solid theory background. Memorizing all the theory in the world wouldn't do him much good if he couldn't apply it. Potter could and he knew more just the practical of brewing, but application as well. Snape was getting the sneaking suspicion that under his personal tutelage that Potter might make a Potions Master. It was too early to tell, though.

There was a lot to learn other than theory and the practical. Potter did know some application, but could he be adaptive and predictive as well? Could he invent potions? Was he creative? The hardest part about becoming a Potions Master was that you had to research and create your own potion from scratch and it had be something that wasn't a new derivative. It couldn't simply be an improvement of a prior potion. Snape pursed his lips. That would have made things too easy.

Class was about to begin and Snape scanned the room quickly. All the students were in their seats with the notable exception of a Mr. Harry Potter. Snape narrowed his eyes. Potter was never late to Potions and he showed a proclivity for being early. Snape wondered if something might be off with Potter. Snape shrugged it off. Why should he be concerned with the son of James Potter?

Snape started class by waving his wand at the board and watching as the lesson for today appeared. There were minimal instructions for brewing the floating potion, just enough to guide a student if they had read the textbook quite carefully. Of course, there were no ingredient's list. If his students hadn't learned by now, they were complete morons. He never provided that particular list. They should have that memorized!

Potter walked in then, a few minutes later, his cheeks flushed and his hair disheveled. His clothes were very wrinkled. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed. Snape was not impressed in the least by this Potter and thought that the son was now looking like the father. How utterly predictable (and a little disappointing).

"Detention tonight Potter," Snape barked. "Would you care to tell me the theory behind today's potion since you had extra time to look over the material versus your classmates?"

Unlike his father, Potter did not get defensive. He just looked up with bloodshot eyes; he had obviously stayed up later last night and said, "The floating potion uses the concept of a kite, utilizing the idea that with a light enough matter, the wind could push you up. Thus, the potion lowers a person's body weight enough that the wind could push you around."

Snape hated it when Potter was right. He didn't say anything, just grunted and gestured for the boy to take his seat. At least he didn't look as smug as the Ravenclaws did when they answered correctly.

-

Harry was sitting in the far back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but his head was still hurting. If there was one class he should skip, it was this one. He was sure there was something about this class that was causing his head to hurt, but he could find no valid explanation.

Now he couldn't really tell if it was just because he had been sick before or if it was the class. There had been a dull throbbing since he had woken up in the hospital, especially aggravated when he did a lot of reading and thinking. Just fabulous, considering he needed his mind to get to the bottom of this. He knew Remus was worried about him and he also saw the concern in Minerva's eyes when he had Transfiguration. He didn't understand why they didn't approach him anymore. He felt a little like he was being abandoned.

Minerva used to talk to him after her Transfiguration class, but she hadn't asked him to stay after since his trip to the hospital. Harry still saw Remus, only because he went to see him, but Remus seemed to be withdrawing from him somewhat. It was utterly perplexing. What hurt Harry most was that Albus no longer invited him for tea in the Headmaster's Office in the afternoons when classes were over.

Harry placed his head on the cool surface of the desk. He didn't know what was going on anymore.

-

Albus wondered, stroking his long beard, if what he had done was the right thing—to save Harry from the orphanage. He hadn't wanted James and Lily Potter's son to grow up in such a horrible environment, especially when he was the Boy Who Lived. At the same time, Albus was beginning to see problems in how much he had sheltered and nurtured Harry in such a loving environment.

Harry had grown up knowing a great deal about love, but he was naïve about the world. He knew how to trust wholeheartedly, but he didn't know when to distrust. He gave his friendship away so easily, that he very well might be making friends with the wrong people—people who would use him. Albus knew Harry was a smart kid, but he hadn't grown up in a suspicious enough environment to naturally distrust people at first and later gaining trust when they proved themselves. Instead Harry trusted first.

Albus just didn't want Harry to end up living a childhood like Tom Riddle. Minerva would never have forgiven him. Now the only problem was Albus didn't know how to make Harry wise to the world without putting him through a long, difficult period. Albus sighed. He had traded a miserable childhood for a miserable school life. Was it even worth it?

Maybe Tom Riddle would never resurface as Voldemort. Maybe Voldemort was truly gone... but Albus doubted that. If Voldemort was truly dead, then he wouldn't have this feeling that darkness was so close by.

-

**Note**: Thanks for all the reviews! I appreciate it. Quite a few people have been asking me if this was going to be slash (or not). I think at this point I have a lot of gen readers and honestly, though I might be primarily a slash writer, this is an action/adventure story and the primary relationships are just going to be close friendships. There's a lot (if I were to go back and write this) I would change. I might do a complete revision this summer, but for now it'll stay like this. Still pondering.

Would anyone be terribly disappointed if I kept this gen?


	18. The Dead Unicorn

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

This fic will remain gen for the time being (and probably forever)!

Chapter 18  
_The Dead Unicorn_

"I don't have detention tomorrow night," Ron remarked as they were sitting at the quidditch pitch. It was nearly curfew and they would have to leave soon. Ron kind of regretted letting Snape get to him. All that greasy git's fault anyway that he only got to spend a few minutes with Harry today. The detention was only suppose to last until 8 o'clock, but of course, Ron hadn't been able to escape until half past that hour. "Wanna play some seek the snitch or maybe keeper and chaser or beaters and bludgers or we could just sit and talk..."

Harry shook his head. "I can't. I've got detention with Professor Snape."

"WHAT?!" Ron exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. How in bloody hell had that bastard justified giving Harry a detention? Harry was the nicest boy Ron knew and Harry always _always_ went by the rules. How could Harry ever get a detention from any professor? "That greasy git," Ron muttered. "I knew he was unfair, but I didn't think he was bloody cruel! This is unbelievable. This is—"

"I was late to class," Harry said, surprising Ron by interrupting him. "It's my fault. Professor Snape had to give me detention. It was only fair."

"Yeah right," Ron said. "Snape's never fair. That git. You ought to complain to Professor McGonagall about it. I bet she'd stand up for you. She doesn't play favorites, but you can see she really likes you. I bet she'd tell Snape off."

"Ron," Harry said softly, but Ron looked toward his best friend, thinking that Harry was finally coming to his senses and was about to agree with him about Snape—finally! "Did you even hear what I said? Professor Snape was right to give me a detention. He gives _everybody_ a detention for being late. I know Professor Snape has been unfair and unreasonable to you, but have you ever thought it might be because you aren't fair or reasonable to him?"

Ron just stared at Harry, not believing what was coming out of his best friend's mouth. He couldn't believe it! Harry was standing up for that git over him! Harry was choosing Snape, that bastard! Ron felt anger and something other feeling overwhelm him. He got up and ran back to Slytherin house. He didn't understand, how could Harry pick Snape over him?

-

Neville was sitting in the library reading up on the next potion he would need to brew when he saw Harry walk in. Neville waved his hand hesitantly and he was pleasantly surprised when Harry waved back and came over to sit down. Neville, of course, knew that Harry was a nice boy, and Neville personally considered him a friend—but he really didn't get to hang out with Harry very much. It seemed that Harry was a very busy boy, especially recently.

Neville hadn't really seen Harry at all for the last two weeks, and Harry had always made an effort to help with potions in the library once or twice a week. Neville had been afraid that Harry didn't want to be friends with him anymore that's why Harry wasn't meeting up to help him. Neville had been so certain that Harry was sick and tired of how dumb and slow he was, but now he was beginning to have hope that his thoughts were just silly as Zacharias and Justin had said.

"Hi Harry," Neville said, feeling still a bit nervous as he usually was around people. He had just gotten comfortable living with Zacharias and Justin. There weren't many others he was comfortable with, but he had a feeling that Harry would be one of them.

Harry smiled. "How are you?"

"Good," Neville said shyly. "Just got to read about this potion for tomorrow's class."

"I just had potions today," Harry remarked, craning over to look at the book. Neville quickly slid it toward him and Harry nodded at him gratefully. "You've got a pretty good reference. The potion's a bit tricky, but if you read this part," Harry pointed steps 4 through 7, "carefully then you should be fine. I bet Professor Snape will probably ask a few questions about these steps."

"Thank you so much," Neville said.

Harry nodded and pulled out a book from his bag to read. Neville pulled his potions book back and started carefully reading, getting stumped when he got to the part that Harry had pointed out was probably important for him to read for tomorrow. Neville glanced up, wondering if he should bother Harry when it was obvious the other boy was busy doing his own work. Neville fidgeted in his chair and bent his head back down. He should try to read it a couple more times before he asked for help.

Thirty minutes later, Neville was tapping his foot on the floor anxiously. He really didn't understand what the steps were trying to tell him what to do. He felt like an utter dunce like his Gran always said he was. He just didn't get it, no matter how many times he read it. Neville looked up again, but Harry was still busy doing his own work and Neville really didn't want to bother him.

Harry lifted his head then and said, "Do you need some help?"

Neville nodded shyly. "I don't get the steps that you pointed out."

"It's because the book uses some archaic ways of expressing what it wants you to do," Harry aid. "I had problems to when I read it. All it really says is that you need to add the wormweed in small pinches that you must carefully chop up prior and make sure the potion is simmering when you do it because if it's boiling, you'll end up exploding your potion."

Neville quickly jotted down everything that Harry had said. He really didn't know how to thank Harry. If it weren't for him, his grades in potions would be awful. Neville knew he could ask his roommates for help, but he didn't want to. He hated to annoy others and he had been told often enough by his Gran that people don't like to be irritated by all his stupid questions. He should learn to depend on himself and be a man! Neville sighed. He wondered when the day would come that he might be more like his brave parents...

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, looking concerned. "Did it make sense? If not, I can explain it to you again."

"No," Neville said, shaking his head. "I got it. Thanks."

"Not a problem," Harry replied. "Any time you need help, you can ask, all right?"

"All right."

-

Harry was surprised when he ended up reporting to the grounds keeper, Hagrid, for his detention instead of Professor Snape. It seemed that the professor was busy for some reason or another and could not conduct his usual detention. Harry sighed and marched over to the hut where Hagrid was waiting for him.

"Well, there you are!" Hagrid exclaimed, beaming. Harry had heard (and read more) quite a bit about the half-giant, half-wizard that was their grounds keeper. Some of it was bad (about how he lost his wand) and the other was good (that he was very good at his job). "I guess it'll just be you and me tonight and Fang." Hagrid pointed at his big dog, who would have looked rather dangerous if he didn't look so sleepy. "We're searching for an injured unicorn and see if we can help heal it. Not so bad for detention, right?"

Harry shook his head. "No, sir."

"Hagrid will do fine," he said. "No fancy stuff for me, I'm not a professor. And even if I was, I wouldn't be comfortable with all that Professor stuff. Just call me Hagrid." Harry nodded and Hagrid continued, "Keep close to me. The Forbidden Forest is off limits for good reasons and there's a lot of treacherous stuff out there. Don't like how the unicorn got injured though," he remarked, shaking his head. "Something awfully fishy about that. Lots of weird happenings been going on in the forest at night and I don't like it at all."

"Like what?" Harry asked suddenly, without even thinking.

"Lots of restless creatures in the forest, just a feeling of mine," Hagrid responded. "Some of the more peaceful creatures have moved up to the hills. Safer grounds, and of course, who would dare harm a unicorn? Very despicable work there."

Hagrid looked up at the sky and saw the moon half covered by the clouds. "Let's be off. Sooner we go, the sooner we can finish this bad business up."

-

The unicorn's blood was sweet and bitter at the same time. Voldemort could not stop drinking it. He was already cursed for having tasted a drop of it, he might as well drain the unicorn dry and make the most of its magical blood to revive his flagging magical self. Quirrell simply was not strong enough and he needed a better host soon. Voldemort looked up at the sky. The full moon was coming and that would be the perfect time to find the stone... when magic was at its strongest.

Voldemort stopped sucking the blood when he heard the telltale noise of a foot stepping on a twig. He looked up and saw that boy... Harry Potter. There was no mistaking the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, nor the green color his eyes—so much like the Killing Curse. Voldemort was tempted them to seize the boy and to use his body now, but backed off when he saw Hagrid.

Hagrid might not know much magic, but being a giant gave him some measure of resistance to wizard magic. Voldemort knew when to back down and run when he had little chance of winning. What magic he had was barely enough to sustain his spirit within Quirrell's corporal body. It'd be waste to fight Hagrid for the boy now.

He had time. He could wait... until after he got his hands on the philosopher's stone.

-

Remus had never seen Harry look like this before, so utterly white, not even when he had passed out in Defense class. He wasn't trembling though. Something must have either scared him or moved him deeply. Remus didn't dare guess which one. Instead he waited for Harry to speak when he was ready.

Remus was not surprised when Harry climbed into his lap and held on tightly. Remus was beginning to have a suspicion that he knew what had probably caused Harry's paleness, but precisely what was what he did not know. Remus told himself to be patient and to just wait.

"I don't understand," Harry finally said. "How can you kill something as beautiful and as innocent as a unicorn?"

Remus found it hard to contain his own shock at what Harry had said. He knew Harry wasn't a liar, but he could hardly believe it. Who would dare kill a unicorn? It was a cursed life—it was worse than being a werewolf—it was madness!

"I don't like how the world is," Harry said softly. "I once used to wish that I could be part of the school, when they couldn't see me, but I now want to be invisible again..."

As disturbing as a unicorn's death was, what Harry was insinuating right now was far more important. Remus gently rubbed Harry's back in the way he knew that soothed the boy. "The world's not always a very fair place," Remus remarked. "But you can't always hide in the shadows. You know why?"

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because if you do, you can't change it for the better." Remus hugged Harry tighter, wondering if he should be encouraging Harry to become the hero everyone assumed he would be. Maybe it would just be better to keep Harry a normal, if especially bright kid. "You're a very important person in the wizarding world, Harry, there's no denying that. You can do a lot of good, bring about a lot of change, if you want. People listen to you..."

"What if I don't want it?"

"It doesn't matter," Remus said because he knew it was true. "They will still look to you."

"What should I do?" Harry pulled away and looked up earnestly into Remus' eyes. "What do you _think_ I should do?"

Remus opened his mouth and then closed it, needing to think more before he spoke. There was a lot Harry could do, if he became the hero Remus envisioned in his head. Harry was kind, gentle, and such an innately good person. There was something completely guileless about him, but Remus also knew that being thrown onto a pedestal would slowly erode that over time. Harry would no longer be the sweet, little boy that Remus knew.

"Remy?"

"I think you should do what you want," Remus said. "Do what you believe will make _you_ happy. You don't have to worry about the rest of us. I know that whatever you choose is the best and the right choice for you."

"It would be nice to do something that would help the world," Harry said carefully, "but I don't know if I can."

"Just do your best because that's all any of us can do."

-

**Note**: Any particular character POVs you'd like to hear more from or would like included in the story? I hope I did a reasonably new spin on the unicorn bit w/o making it too boring. I'm liking where the story is going, thus far, though I kind of wish I could go back and change things... but I'll just trudge along as it is and hope for the best. I think Harry's making progress into becoming a strong individual, hopefully. -;; Kind of worried about that, but anyway thanks for reading and reviewing!


	19. Running into Danger

**A Rewritten Life**  
by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

Check out my original novel, "The Glasshouse" about a futuristic society where genetics determines your role in society fictionpress(.)com/s/2358837/1/ Just take out the parenthesis!

Chapter 19  
_Running into Danger_

"You look pathetic," Blaise remarked as he sat down next to Ron on the couch to the far corner in the common room. "You're starting to resemble a Hufflepuff and that's rather demeaning for a Slytherin."

Ron glared at Blaise. Blaise just rolled his eyes a little and lowered his head, so that his mouth was close to Ron's ear. "Whatever fight you had with your precious Potter, just make up with him already." Blaise paused to let his words sink in before he continued, "You know he's right."

Ron shoved Blaise away and stormed to the first year's dormitory. Blaise leaned back into the couch and spread his legs out where Ron had been sitting. He smirked at all the upper year Slytherins who had been watching and probably wondering what he had said to Ron. Let them wonder. Being a curiosity in Slytherin was not necessary a bad thing and looking like he wasn't friends with Ron was probably even better.

Blaise closed his eyes. Being friends with Ron? What a joke.

-

Harry had read the books before he even knew that _he_ was the one who had defeated Voldemort. That thing must have been He Who Must Not Be Named. Who else could it have been? Harry shuddered as he curled up into his blankets and buried his head into his pillow. Who else would be so desperate?

Especially when Voldemort was supposed to be dead.

Harry rolled around, switching positions, wondering what to do. He had to stop Voldemort. He should go talk to Albus about it. Albus always knew what to do. Harry sat up and almost got out of his bed, but then he stopped. It was late and it was after hours. Harry remembered Albus distinctively telling him last time that he shouldn't break the rules. He must be like the other students. He couldn't be... special.

Harry lied back down and squeezed his eyes shut. He would talk to Albus tomorrow.

-

He needed a diversion. The troll would be perfect. It was stupid and it happened to live in a cave in the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort reasoned that it was perfectly reasonable for a troll to happen upon Hogwarts, especially when the sky was brewing a storm. Even a troll would want to get out of the rain, the fact it ended up at Hogwarts instead of its cave was a matter of clever misleading.

Voldemort manipulated Quirrell's body and forced him to move toward the forest. Quirrell didn't offer much resistance anymore. The wizard knew it was useless trying to fight against the will of the Dark Lord. Voldemort smiled a little, more of a smirk really. Quirrell still kept trying to resist though. It made things a little interesting, although Voldemort could do without the excitement. He had enough things to preoccupy his mind with.

As soon as he found another suitable replacement, Voldemort would make sure to _kill_ every bit of Quirrell.

-

It had been months now and Draco was still no closer to Harry since he had declared that Harry Potter was going to be his best friend. Draco was incredibly frustrated at the situation. Draco shoved his plate away from him and got up. He was done with dinner. Draco started walking over to the Gryffindor table, not even realizing what he was doing until he was standing right in front of Harry.

"Meet me tonight after dinner at the library," he said, not giving Harry a chance to say no. He knew if he did then he wouldn't get to speak to Harry. So Draco whirled around after he left and headed out the door. He didn't even know what he was going to talk to Harry about, he just knew that he had had enough of waiting.

Harry was going to become best friends with him and the only way to do that was to spend time with him!

-

Parvati looked at Harry after Draco had left and said, "That was weird." She tilted her head. "What do you think he wanted?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know."

"If you don't know, who would know?"

Harry spooned some gravy and made a great show of eating. Parvati knew he did that when he didn't want to answer a question. It wasn't a great surprise to her when after he was done swallowing he asked, "Are you going to be doing your Transfigurations homework tonight?"

Parvati sighed and nodded. Harry was getting not telling her as much as he used to, though he had never really said as much as the other Gryffindors. Parvati frowned, trying to think back to when she had started noticing that Harry had been rather quiet about things. It had only been after his detention, yesterday that she even noticed. Harry had been so pale in class today. She remembered suggesting that he just take the day off, but Harry had said no—he couldn't do that. Harry really did follow things by the book. She wondered if he ought to be a Ravenclaw like her sister. He was certainly studious enough.

"Are you going to meet with Draco after dinner?" Parvati asked, trying to get back to the original subject.

Harry didn't say anything, Parvati supposed that meant yes.

-

Harry was annoyed that he had to meet with Draco after dinner. He supposed he could slip in a _small amount_ of time, but that was it! He wasn't interested in whatever Draco Malfoy wanted. What Harry really needed to do was meet with Albus about the idea that Voldemort was very much alive and prowling around the Forbidden Forest. Harry had read up on a couple of books and had talked to Remus last night and it seemed his theory was logical. Now if only Albus would believe him...

Harry wasn't so sure anymore. Albus seemed to have cared a great deal for him, but he had been constantly ignoring him for the past two months. It made Harry feel very unloved and he didn't know what to do. It was like everyone was shutting him out. Even Remus wasn't the same and Harry really missed that. Everything was going wrong now that school had started. Harry wished things could go back to the way they were, but he knew that was impossible now. He had to grow up.

The library was pretty quiet, not many students would be in here for at least another hour. After dinner was a popular time to hang out with your friends before getting back to work or whatever else you had to do before going to bed. Draco was sitting at a table to the far right, just sitting there. He didn't even pretend to be interested in the books in the library. Harry walked straight over and stood besides Draco. Draco gestured for Harry to sit down across from him and Harry shook his head.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, feeling rather rude by getting directly to the point, but it wasn't like he had time on his hands.

"What do I want?" Draco repeated. "We're supposed to be best friends!"

Harry shrugged, not really know what to say in return. All he really wanted was for Draco to say his piece so he could get going.

"That means we should hang out more," Draco said.

"Okay," Harry said. "Is that all?"

Draco had a weird expression on his face, but he nodded. "Yes."

"I'm going to go now," Harry said. "I'll see you later." Harry turned around and he wasn't surprised when he heard Draco following behind him. Harry just sped up, trying to get rid of Draco when he saw a _troll_ waving around a huge wooden club charging toward them. Harry stopped dead in his tracks and Draco bumped into him from behind.

"Hey!" Draco exclaimed. "What... bloody hell!"

Harry could agree with that sentiment. He was about to suggest that they run for it; unfortunately the troll happened to spot them already. It was too late to try to make an unnoticeable getaway. Trolls were rather unintelligent creatures, but they were good at focusing in on a target—in this case, two wizard children.

Harry held up his wand and he felt Draco grab his robes from behind. Harry rolled his eyes. Didn't Draco know this was not a time to get scared? He ought to have his wand out. What had he been taught as a child? Remus had always told him that he should be alert and prepared and always, always have your wand out when danger was nearby.

The troll swung the club toward them and Harry yelled, "_Wingardium leviosa!" _whilepointing his wand at the club.

The troll looked up at his club, totally confused when Draco grabbed Harry's arm and the spell wavered. The club came crashing down on the troll, effectively knocking him out. Harry was about to snap at Draco, but even if it had been accidental—Harry couldn't ignore that what Draco had done had worked. They were safe now.

"What in Merlin's name," Minerva said, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face, "are you two boys doing here?"

"Uh..." Harry began, all his bravado and knowing what to do deserted him in the face of disapproval.

"Professor McGonagall, " Draco said smoothly, "we were leaving the library when we ran into the troll. We had no choice, but to disarm it. I hope we won't get in trouble for this situation, which is really beyond our control."

Minerva didn't looked pleased at all, Harry could tell from the way she briefly pursed her lips together, but she gave them a quick nod. "Ten points to each of you," she said, then paused. She looked at both of them for a moment before saying, "Malfoy, go back to your dorm and report to Professor Snape. Potter, you will come with me."

-

Albus had had two moments of deep anxiety. One was when Hagrid had reported seeing a troll heading for Hogwarts castle. Two was when Harry had failed to show up for their evening meeting. Albus breathed a deep sigh of relief when Harry showed up with Minerva, only half an hour late.

"I really ought to be more upset at you," Minerva said as they walked toward his office. "I'm so glad that you are all right. But what on earth were you doing with Draco Malfoy?"

"He wanted to meet me in the library," Harry said. "I really didn't hear the announcement."

"I believe you. It's just strange..." Minerva's voice trailed off. "I would be careful around him."

"He wants to be my friend," Harry said. "I don't see what's so bad about that."

"Draco's parents... they are rather manipulative. They try to control things, especially his father." Minerva paused. "Just don't trust everything he says, all right?"

"All right."

Albus pretended to be doing something, shuffling his papers around when they walked into his office, but when he looked up Minerva had a knowing look in her eyes—she always knew when he was eavesdropping. The witch knew him far too well.

"Albus!" Harry exclaimed enthusiastically in greeting. Albus smiled kindly and gestured for them to take the two chairs across from his desk.

"I was worried," Albus admitted, knowing that it would catch Minerva offguard, which is precisely what it did. Keep her on her toes, he thought as he smiled to himself. "You're late and you're not normally."

"I had to meet Draco Malfoy at the library after dinner," Harry said, not looking happy. "Then we ran into a troll and..."

"And they handled the situation well," Minerva finished after smoothly interrupting Harry. "The troll was unconscious when I arrived and I called Hagrid to take care of disposing him to a part of the Forbidden Forest where it will be quite tricky for him to find his way out."

"I see you both have been very busy," Albus remarked. He turned his entire focus, now, to Harry. "You wanted to meet me about something?" Harry nodded and Albus continued, "What is on your mind, my boy?"

"Voldemort!" Harry blurted out to Albus' surprise and Minerva's.

Albus quickly composed himself though. "What of Voldemort?"

"I think he's still alive," Harry said. "At least, I can't think of anyone that would be as desperate as Voldemort to drink unicorn's blood. I know he should be dead, especially since the Killing Curse backfired toward him, but... I didn't die from it. Maybe he didn't too. Maybe he's still alive and maybe he's the one that drank the unicorn's blood and maybe he sent the troll into Hogwarts..."

"A lot of ifs, Harry," Albus said, although what Harry had said wasn't really anything different from his own thoughts. He had had his suspicions over the year that Voldemort might not truly be gone. It would have been too easy, for a baby like Harry to have killed him. And if Voldemort was still alive, then Harry was in grave danger—and also, unfortunately, their best hope of salvation.

Albus really, really didn't want Harry to be right.

"What does your gut tell you?" Albus asked. "Do you truly believe your theory behind the unicorn's death? That Voldemort is alive?"

Harry did not nod slowly. He was quick and sure.

Albus wanted to keep Harry safe and in the dark, but he decided he would not. "I do believe you're right." Minerva tensed up in her seat, sitting much straighter. "And I believe I know what Voldemort is after."

"What?" Minerva asked before Harry could.

Albus closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "The Philosopher's Stone. It's here... at Hogwarts."

-

**Note**: Sorry it's taken so long. I really do appreciate my readers. Thanks for reviewing and keeping me motivated. I've finally graduated from University and soon I'll be going off for a trip. I hope to have one or two chapters written to tide you over.


	20. Important Notice

**A REWRITTEN LIFE  
**

by Yih

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

**Chapter 20**

In which Lord Voldemort was supposed to be incredibly pissed that his troll was not able to do its mission and get him the distraction he needed to filch the philosopher's stone.

Harry Potter again foils the Dark Lord!

-

I've decided to re-write it. The new version is A LIFE, REWRITTEN, which is now posted. I hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks for reading this :).


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